Unexpected Power
by DraconisWing
Summary: FrostIron. (Loki-Tony Stark)The Battle of New York has ended; Loki is imprisoned within Asgard. Peace reigns... But it does not last. Loki escapes, and the Tesseract is stolen... but it is soon made clear a new enemy has taken interest in the cube of power. With life itself hanging in the balance, surprising alliances will have to be made... for unexpected powers dwell in Midgard.
1. Unwelcome News

Hello all! This is the beginning of what I hope to be an exciting fanfic. This will be FrostIron and mainly Avengers, but the Harry Potter gang will show up in a few chapters. Many thanks to Untold Story for helping get me into gear and writing fanfics for myself! (For those of you who don't know, FrostIron is Loki-Tony Stark. It will not be a major plot point, but it will be in this.)

I do not own any of the characters I'm writing, just shamelessly making them do what I want them to with words. xD Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

"Dummy, it is not going to catch fire. Put the hose down."

His first-born robot only wobbled slightly before again training the extinguisher on the uni-beam.

Tony sighed. "_Down," _He said, very slowly and clearly. Dummy appeared not to hear him. Throwing up his hands, he returned to the control panel. "Fine. Have it your way. That 'donate to a community college' threat is still in effect, you know. You blast it, and it's not on fire –" He drew his finger swiftly across his throat. The threat was empty – drunken college students were certainly never getting their dirty paws on _his _machinery - but maybe it'd stave off another Dummy-induced extinguisher mess.

He closed off the last circuit with a flourish, eyed Dummy warningly, and turned the arc reactor on. It immediately blazed with a brilliant icy light. It looked strangely out of place, though, glowing within the suit's chestpiece without him in it. He looked down, at his current – and soon-to-be-outdated – arc reactor. He was never one to deny his own genius, but it never failed to amaze him what he'd made; something that started as a replacement for a car battery was now powering a superhero's suit. Well, a super person's suit, anyway. The word 'hero' didn't really appeal or apply to Tony Stark.

Locking down the chestpiece, he turned to face the makeshift target. "Aim…" He muttered to himself, wondering idly whether his new additions would actually improve the power, or blow up in his face… literally. "And…"

A blast echoed through the room, but not the kind Tony was expecting. He sighed, leaving his unfired arc reactor alone and turning to face the blond alien now facing him from across the room. He opened his mouth to speak, but not before Dummy had given the slightly-smoking Thor a good dose of fire-dampening foam.

"_Back, _Dummy," Tony said, waving him off, but he couldn't say he wasn't amused. It was enjoyable to see Dummy douse someone else for a change. Dummy retreated, rather reluctantly for a machine, with his hose still trained threateningly at Thor.

Thor stood in the middle of a slight singe mark on the floor, the Tesseract's case held tightly in his hand. Mjollnir was clenched in the other. Unlike the last time Tony had seen him, Thor seemed dressed for war – or at least, it looked like he was wearing armor underneath all the white foam.

Thor nodded gravely at Tony, always so formal. "Stark."

Tony waved a hand and bowed deeply. "Thor."

Choosing not to make a comment on that, Thor instead pointed Mjollnir at Dummy. "Is that your strongest defense against intruders?" He asked. Tony snorted and threw Thor a towel. "Hardly. If _those _defenses were on, you'd be taking a sweet trip down to meet the pavement right about now." He crossed his arms and leaned against his workbench, feeling no need to mention that JARVIS already had Thor's biocode programmed into the security system. "What brings you here to Midgard? Thought you had enough to keep you occupied in Asgard for a few centuries."

Thor looked away, pacing toward the window. "Stark –"

"Loki escaped, got it. When did this happen?"

Thor whirled on Tony, automatically raising Mjollnir. "You know of this?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Why else would you beam here all strung-up and nervous? Either Jane dumped you or your crazy brother escaped imprisonment. Again." He shrugged. "Thor, this is _Loki. _We all knew he was going to escape the moment we locked him up. That's just what he _does." _

Thor slowly lowered Mjollnir, wringing the handle in his hands. "When he was brought back to Asgard… my brother was tried for his crimes. He was found guilty for both treason and murder. It took much from my father to revoke the traditional sentence." Thor trailed off, but there was no question that he meant death.

"He was placed in our strongest vault, under constant guard." Thor started pacing again, and Tony stepped hastily back when Mjollnir started to emit a few angry sparks. "Loki is not the only magician in the realm – Odin gathered many, and they fashioned a pair of shackles to bind not only his hands, but his magic as well. We still do not know how he escaped."

Wonderful. So there was more magic they didn't know about. Magic that apparently Odin himself couldn't stop. This was just getting better and better.

"Right." Tony pointed his screwdriver at the Tesseract. "Well, thanks for the warning. Maybe you should be heading back, though, before Loki scampers back to Earth."

Thor looked down at the glowing cube, apparently confused. "I do not understand you."

Apparently pointing wasn't clear enough. Tony jabbed at the Tesseract with the screwdriver this time. "Remember how much trouble Loki brewed to try to get that thing? Maybe it should head back upstairs. If you keep it around here, Loki's sure to find it eventually, and I _really _don't want to have to rebuild New York again. You Asgardians are less breakable anyway."

Thor did something Tony did not expect – he laughed. "Stark, Loki cannot steal the Tesseract so long as it resides in Midgard."

Okay. This had gone too far without having some alcohol around to mediate the situation. After a scotch was safely in hand, he said, "And just what do you mean by that?"

"The Bifrost is destroyed, Stark. Loki cannot use magic. We do not know how he escaped his cell, but it was not by magical means. He cannot leave Asgard without the Tesseract. So long as it remains here, it is safe from Loki's grasp."

Tony couldn't help it; he beamed. Thor had actually used his head. And for actual thinking this time, as opposed to a battering iron. But despite Thor's unusually sensible plan, Tony couldn't see it working. This was Loki 'bag of cats' Laufeyson. He could do what he wanted. Thor said he didn't escape by magical means, but then how had he escaped at all? And if he could escape an inescapable fortress… he could beam himself to earth somehow. The only question was when.

Tony turned back to his new arc reactor, internally upgrading its position from 'pet project' to 'priority'. With Loki on the loose, even worlds away, he'd feel better with a stronger suit.

Plus, he'd finally get to use his new gauntlets with it.

"Well, let me know how that goes," he told Thor, turning the arc reactor once more towards the target. "If you're not planning on jumping planets anytime soon, maybe you should hand it over to SHIELD for the time being." SHIELD and Tony didn't quite see eye to eye, and he had the distinct impression that Fury and himself were seeing different pictures of the world altogether. But despite that, he couldn't deny the fact that their engineering vault was probably the safest place for the cube. If Loki honestly couldn't use magic… even Tony couldn't see him worming into a vault of that magnitude without the help of his wormhole.

Thor didn't seem all that happy with it, either. "Do you think that is best?"

"I don't, but I hate the alternatives more." He'd considered right off housing the Tesseract in the Avenger's mansion – but considering it was already a target, what with all the Avengers coming and going randomly – it didn't seem like a great idea to add another prize to the bounty. But more than that… the Tesseract was volatile, temperamental… magical. Not solid and dependable like machinery, not something that he understood. And as intelligent as he was, he doubted he ever would fully understand it. But much more than that, the battle of New York had given him a slightly clearer view of the fragility of life – one mistaken experiment with the Tesseract and _boom – _bye bye, Earth. He knew just how easily that could happen. Or what if Hulk went wacko and thrashed through all the protections around it, destroying both the cube and life itself?

Nope, SHIELD would have to do.

"As you say." Thor started to leave, but turned as the last second. "Shall I give them your regards?"

There were no words to fit his regards. Tony's answer was a resounding explosion as he fired the arc reactor's uni-beam. Thor smirked as he stepped to the door and turned the Tesseract, disappearing in an eerie blue flash. _Off to SHIELD_, Tony thought as he wiped foam off his arms and reset the target, _Probably beaming right into some impenetrable fort_. The security guard's faces would be priceless, he was sure; those who didn't suffer from the heart attacks, that is. He briefly considered asking JARVIS to hack into SHIELD's mainframe and pilfer the security video feed – but Fury's blood pressure was high enough for now. He'd have his fun another time, when Thor and the Tesseract weren't heaped on Fury's plate.

"Reset, Dummy," He called against his better judgment, and fired the beam again.

* * *

Next chapter in a day or two! Reviews are always appreciated, and don't hesitate to tell me if I've made some egregious and unforgivable error. :O


	2. Vicious but Efficient

Ohmygosh people read this? Squee! Hope it's to your satisfaction, sorry it took so long ^^;

* * *

For two weeks, no one heard a peep from the God of Mischief. That was just fine with everyone concerned, though Tony did wonder what the crazy guy was up to. But with no new information and plenty of things to do, trying to understand Loki Laufeyson was moved to the backburner. Tony finished his new arc reactor, installed it (this time without Pepper nearly killing him) and was working on improving the armor. He still remembered Thor wreaking havoc on his suit with his bare hands… it wasn't exactly fun trying to get out of the suit that night. He was trying to find a way so that next time he and Thor got in a spat, his suit wouldn't get crushed like it was made of tin foil.

But while Tony was secluded in his workshop, the other Avengers slowly began filtering back to Avengers HQ. The Headquarters used to be at a SHIELD base, but working under someone, especially someone like Fury, just wasn't Tony's style. Perhaps without Fury's express permission, Tony outfitted one of his spare mansions into a high-tech, well guarded headquarters designed specifically with the Avengers in mind. Mainly that just meant separate rooms, but he did make sure the walls were reinforced with pretty much everything he had; just in case Hulk wanted to have some fun around the house. It would be decidedly less fun if everything collapsed.

Eventually all of the team members cottoned on, and began outfitting their individual wings to make it theirs… sort of. Widow's was always locked, from the moment she moved in. Clint seemed to enjoy creeping around in the air vents more than he liked his room. Banner promptly made his into a lab (which Tony often enjoyed visiting) And the Captain furnished his like… well, an old fashioned house. The most technologically advanced item he had in his room was a radio. Tony had tried, many times, to convince him to use a computer, or hell, just a smartphone, but to no avail. But Tony would corrupt him with 21st century gadgets eventually.

And so that's where he was, eating a bagel under the Captain's watchful eye, when JARVIS spoke. _Sir, Thor has entered the mansion – _

Anything else he was saying became irrelevant, for the god in question had just burst through the door. Mjolnir was being brandished about in one hand, his expression panicked. Sparks leapt from his hammer as he quickly crossed the room to them. This wasn't good.

"This has to be a new record," Tony said thickly, his mouth bulging with bagel. "Two weeks to not only get off Asgard, but rip off SHIELD as well. Amazing."

Thor stared at Tony for one moment, then charged him. Tony took an involuntary step back, and Thor's expression was so enraged that Steve quickly stepped between them. Thor impatiently shoved the Captain out of his way, clearly keen on speaking his mind.

"This is not a jest, Stark!" Thor shouted, raising Mjolnir menacingly. "My brother is now in sole possession of the Tesseract! If he wields it as I fear he will, the Ragnarok will finally be upon us, and all the realms shall meet their ends. Is _that _what you want, Stark?"

Tony raised his hands in a non-threatening fashion, swallowing noisily. "Simmer down, big guy," He said in a soothing tone. "No one wants that." Thor did not back down, his eyes blazing. Tony was not entirely sure he did not intend to strike him down – his brother's escape appeared to have broken something in Thor. What exactly was broken, Tony didn't know, but it was just plain scary to be in the demigod's glare.

He really wished he had his suit.

"No one wants that, Thor," Steve seconded. Thor's head snapped around, finally freeing Tony from the fiery stare. Whew. He was going to have to make a valiant effort to get the wisecracks at a minimum for awhile; failure might end with getting smashed and electrified by an angry god.

"When did this happen, Thor?" Steve continued in a calm tone. "What do you know about it? Tell us everything."

"I know little that will be of use," Thor said, finally lowering Mjolnir. "Jane… Jane had finally returned from her place of safety. She wished to see Eric Selvig – I accompanied her to the SHIELD base." He broke off as Steve convulsively gripped the table, scattering wooden splinters upon the ground.

"Peace, friend," Thor reassured him. "Selvig was not taken."

Once the Captain had calmed a little, Thor continued. "The heavens smiled upon us – we were not in the room when Loki arrived. We saw and heard nothing of it until he was gone. The Tesseract was discovered to be missing, every guard and scientist slain. Save for the bodies, there was no evidence he had ever been there. But the Tesseract is gone."

Even Tony could not think of a single thing to say. The idea that Loki was again loose and powerful, so soon after the battle, was a terrible thought to bear. It made Tony feel almost hollow, filled with nothing but a deepening sense of dread.

"Well," Steve finally said, crossing his arms, "I think it's time to assemble the team."

* * *

Fury, for unknown reasons, had not yet contacted the other Avengers. He didn't seem in a very big hurry, either. Whatever Fury's reasons for waiting, though, Tony didn't share them. He quickly called everyone, telling them to meet at the mansion as soon as possible. Everyone agreed, but he hadn't been able to reach Banner. Natasha agreed to search for him, and that would have to do for the moment. He slapped on one of his tracker bracelets, just in case… and his preparing was done. While Steve stood stoic and Thor paced, Tony settled down on the couch with a glass. He was in the middle of throwing down his second scotch when Fury finally decided to phone in and spread the news.

"Already called everyone, boss," Tony said before Fury could speak, adjusting the telescreen so both Thor and Steve could see Fury as well.

Fury did not look pleased. "And what exactly did you tell them?"

"That Loki was Loki, the Tesseract's gone, and they needed to get here ASAP," Steve recited quickly.

"Hmph." Tony expected him to rant and rage, but he settled with looking disapproving. Taking advantage of his lackluster reaction, he asked, "Why the wait? Did you want to give Loki a head start, or what?"

"The _wait, _Stark, was for us trying to get everything back online," Fury snapped. "Whatever Loki was up to, he messed with our security systems. And our computer systems. Anything electrical that was connected with the Tesseract's vault went haywire. And that includes any means of contacting the lot of you."

Tony turned slowly around to stare at Thor, eyebrows raised. "No mention of that in your rundown, Thor."

The god shrugged. "I did not notice." He seemed unconcerned about whatever power surge Loki caused. Then again, his opinion on electrical objects in general was condescending at best, and he seemed to deem most of them quite beneath him. So yeah, he wouldn't notice when half the SHIELD computers started going crazy. He probably didn't see a difference.

"_Anyway,_" Fury said, reclaiming their attention, "We're working to get it back online and salvage what we can from the security tapes. Where did you tell everyone to meet?"

"Here," Tony said promptly. He leaned forward, all ready to dish out a counterargument when Fury inevitably disagreed, but the head of SHIELD merely bowed his head. "Good. We don't know how compromised this base is yet, and won't know for some time. Your…. 'mansion' is, as of yet, off the map. Have them meet and stay there. Until then…"

"Sir!"

Agent Maria Hill strode into the camera's range, looking very disturbed. This, more than anything, unnerved Tony. From what he knew of her, she had the constitution and fortitude of a boulder. She never showed anything so trivial as fear in her expression, much less any other emotion. To have her so clearly shaken was not a good sign.

Maria glanced once towards the screen – Steve waved – then turned back to Fury. "Sir, the doctors examined the bodies from the vault. They're…" She shook her head. "Sir, you need to see this."

Fury nodded and immediately began following her out. "I'll be in touch," Fury said over his shoulder, then the screen went black.

Tony stared at the blank screen for a moment, then drained his glass, hardly feeling the burn of the alcohol as he considered the implications of the little Fury had said. His machinery was crafted with more finesse than SHIELD's, but…

"JARVIS?" He called, getting up from the couch.

"_Sir?"_ His AI immediately answered. He was reminded forcibly of a butler, and was about to say so, but curbed himself just in time. JARVIS never liked that particular comparison.

_Huh, _Tony thought, feeling another splash of self-appreciation of his genius. _My AI is actually more sensitive than the average human. _He'd made a robot that could get miffed at being called a servant. That was fun to think about.

But there were more important things to do right now. "JARVIS, back up all important files and blueprints to the home database. Anything not strictly necessary to run this place? Shove it over there too. Make sure that if he hacks us, all he'll get is some circuits to run the lights and the show scheduling for DIRECTV."

"_Of course, sir," _JARVIS said. "_Shall I leave the refrigerator running?"_

Tony grinned. _And _he had a sense of humor. "Go ahead," he sighed with a wave of his hand.

"So what now?" Steve asked.

"Well, without Banner, not much I can do so far as Tesseract tracking. JARVIS is pulling all that stuff right now, but Banner's tech is portable. And besides, I'd rather waste time now than hand all our research over to Loki on a silver platter." It wasn't that he didn't want to work on it – quite the opposite. He really wanted to dig elbow-deep into his workshop and just start throwing everything he had about gamma radiation and try to find the Tesseract himself. But if Loki was now capable enough to shut down the entire SHIELD base, he would be able to steal from his files. Tony was sure of that.

With a sigh, he strode over to one of the many computers and switched it on. It was rather depressing to watch the folders wink empty one by one, leaving nothing but names behind. "Take the folders too, JARVIS," He added as an afterthought, but somehow it was worse when those disappeared as well, leaving nothing but an empty desktop on the screen. How depressing.

Wallowing on the absence of his precious technology would not help anything – even with that knowledge, he was dangerously close to doing so anyway. But with Steve in the room, he probably wouldn't get away with any more alcohol as a distraction. With a sigh, he grabbed a roll of paper and sat down at the kitchen table. There was nothing stopping him from making physical blueprints, tedious though they could be. Still, it was a project, and an important one at that. He forgot the existence of Steve and Thor in the room as he sat down with a long sheet of paper, blocking everything from the world except for the sketch of a new gamma ray detector.

* * *

It took two days, but finally, everyone was present at the Avenger's mansion. Banner wasn't actually that hard to find – he'd been in Spain just like he'd said. Natasha had found him in less than an hour. It just took much longer for the two to retrace their steps back to the mansion. Bruce seemed surprised at the less-than-happy reaction he received upon entering the house. He didn't seem to find his lack of communication worth any fuss.

"Then why didn't you pick up the phone?" Steve asked Bruce as they all took a seat at the conference table, with the telescreen at the head – a stand-in for Fury, who was still at the wrecked SHIELD base.

Bruce, apparently, had been in the middle of a Spanish bog, searching for herbs that were rumored to have restorative properties – though he knew better now than to try to get rid of the 'other guy', he still wanted a modicum of control over his angry alter ego. And bogs, apparently, didn't get the greatest cell service.

"My phone didn't ring, guys," He said as they all converged upon the doctor, asking what he'd been up to and what he knew. Evidently, Clint had gotten it in his head that Bruce hadn't called because he had super-secret information that couldn't be shared via telephone. Tony hadn't the faintest clue where the quirky archer had come up with that one.

Banner shoved away his eager questioners to set up a tiny screen on the table in front of him – a direct feed to the Gamma Ray satellite, currently trying to track the Tesseract as they had before. So far, all it had returned was a resounding negative.

"Would you all please settle down and shut up?"

Fury had joined the meeting, and his flaring temper seemed to be on a shorter leash than usual. Everyone quieted at once. Tony longed to speak out just then, just because he could, but the need for new information stopped him. Fury knew more – that much was clear.

"So. We managed to salvage what we could of the security footage."

Fury's visage blinked and disappeared, replaced by an image of the Tesseract vault. Tony leaned forward, absorbed, as the video began to play.

The first minute was peaceful and crystal-clear. Guards stood at their posts, the scientists ran their experiments. Then, with no warning, a cloaked figure appeared in their midst. Immediately, the footage started to ripple, as though they were viewing the scene through thick heat waves. The figure in black raised something small and thin – a modified scepter? – and fired at the personnel, smiting them with green light. Whatever it was, it was effective – within a minute, Tony had witnessed the murder of two dozen personnel. The only living being left was the cloaked figure. It raised the thin stick high, and the footage grew more corrupted, rippling and shivering so much it was almost impossible to make out. Tony could just barely see the Tesseract rise free of its bindings, then disappear. The figure in black disappeared as well, and all was still.

Two minutes to kill everyone and steal the Tesseract, with no one the wiser. Horrifying, yes, impressive – but something seemed off to Tony. If there was one thing that he knew about Loki, it was that he cared about the attention. Gloating, showing off. Everything he destroyed, he destroyed in some spectacular, dramatic manner. He wasn't one to be subtle. He remembered only too clearly the whole 'eyeball' incident – didn't that show that he had a flair for the dramatic?

If that cloaked figure was Loki, he'd certainly changed… which obviously was not out of the question. But still… he swallowed his doubts and looked around the table. Their expressions ranged from shocked to horrified.

Fury appeared back on the screen. "Loki isn't taking any chances this time," He said heavily.

Tony continued to frown at the screen, though it looked like he was frowning at Fury now. "What was the nature of the corruption?" He finally asked. "What it a virus, a hack, or some sort of magical crap?"

"Magical," Fury said. "Or at least, we think it is. When Loki used Barton to shut us down before, it was a planned virus. This was just… wild, with no clear target. We're still not sure what the target was."

It was unlike Fury to answer questions so directly – Tony guessed that their noble leader was more shaken than his stony expression let on.

Natasha spoke up for the first time. "The bodies," She said. "What was so unusual about the dead?" She said this as calmly as though she was discussing the weather. Nothing was new about death for Natasha.

"They shouldn't have been dead, that's what's unusual," Fury said. "They were all examined, and there was nothing wrong with them except for the fact that they were dead!" He slammed his fist down upon an unseen table, but they could all hear the thud.

"Whoa." Tony threw his hands up. "Loki –" Or whoever it was, he added mentally, "Fried them with the laser light thing. We all saw it happen."

"The bodies showed no signs of any attack," Fury retorted. "No marks, no poison, no nothing. But they were dead."

Silence reigned in the conference room. Scepters and alien armies were all very well, but the looks of this green light was somehow far more frightening.

"That should not be possible," Thor said slowly, appearing shell-shocked. "There is no magic upon Asgard with such a power. Even the Jotuns do not claim such a skill."

"Would you like to tell that to them?" Fury snapped. "It's not possible. It still happened. Impossible is not a word I believe in."

They continued to bicker and speculate, but Tony had checked out of the conversation, busy reviewing every possible technical trick he knew that could somehow protect against the deadly green light. So far, he was coming up empty. He was only brought back to Earth when an incessant beeping echoed throughout the room, originating from the computer in front of Bruce.

"I've got a lock on the Cube," He gasped, frantically scrolling through the information. "Just one burst… couldn't be anything else." He looked up at the suddenly frozen team. "What are you waiting for?" He nearly shouted. "Get down to the hangar! I'll program the coordinates on the way!" And he was out the door. The rest hesitated.

"Just one burst?" Steve muttered. "Could be a trap. Why wouldn't we have detected anything before or after?

"Maybe he accidentally blew himself up," Clint offered hopefully.

Tony was uncharacteristically quiet. A trap was likely, but it also seemed kind of stupid. Loki had stayed undercover for two days, that was all. That didn't seem like a long enough time to do anything significant or worthwhile with the Tesseract, or even enough time to set up a viable trap. Releasing the energy was a good way to draw them in, but the Avengers wouldn't go down easy. Why else would he broadcast his location, then? Maybe it was a mistake after all.

"Well, it won't hurt to check," Tony said, getting up from his chair, though of course he knew no such thing. Thor, Steve, and Natasha stood as well, but Clint stayed put, a petulant frown on his face. "I've had more than enough of his mind tricks," He said stoutly. "I'm worth more dead and sane than alive and under his control."

Fury thought about his statement before finally saying, "That's my decision to make, Barton." Barton's frowned deepened, and Tony had a feeling he would voluntarily glue himself to the chair if it meant he didn't have to go.

"Natasha, you're to stay." Natasha immediately slid back into her chair, her expression blank. Tony had no idea whether she was upset or pleased with her designation. Fury then sighed and said, "Barton, stay as well." Clint turned away from the telescreen and grinned.

"The rest of you – fill me in on the way."

And Fury disappeared from the screen.

"Well, team," Tony said, clapping his hands together, "We've got a god to destroy. Let's go annoy Bruce!"

That earned him one strained chuckle from Steve, then the group broke apart. Tony headed up to his floor of the mansion, stepping solidly onto the cool metallic circle in the middle of his room. He stripped to his bodysuit and was about to activate the auto-assemble… until he remembered JARVIS had removed all of that. Sighing, he told JARVIS to activate the suit itself instead. JARVIS did, and he tried not to cringe as huge chunk of metal hurtled toward him, slowing just enough to make the application process extremely uncomfortable as opposed to painful. But then the suit was on and he was ready. He opened the window and flew down to the hanger to find everyone else had suited up as well. _Reindeer Games better be ready for this, _Tony thought as the jet took off. _Because we definitely are._

* * *

Yeah, this chapter didn't quite turn out like I wanted it to... sorry if this comes as a disappointment. But fear not, just a few more chapters of boring setup and then we'll get to the good stuff. :D Also, Harry Potter fans, that green light is what you think it is. And the corruption of the security feed? In the books, it was said that magic and electricity don't mix. Well... they mixed, and electricity lost, big time.

Thanks for all the reviews and follows and favorites! This is so exciting ^^

Oh, and edited because the doc manager ate my page breaks D:


	3. Magic doesn't fight fair

Sorry for the wait... flu season has arrived and stopped by to say hello to me... urg.

Anyhoo, here's chapter 3. Some of it will be kind of confusing, but rest assured it will be explained next chapter.

Also, about the canon. Avengers is pretty much canon, minor changes will be mentioned as they come. But for Harry Potter... not quite canon. I'm messing with some things. XP Timeline is after the 6th book, maybe around the middle of the 7th. SPOILERS for those who haven't read the Deathly Hallows. Three horcruxes still remain - Hufflepuff's cup, the tiara, and Nagini. And, of course, Harry himself. The battle of hogwarts has not happened (and won't happen like in the book), Voldy and company are still alive. Hedwig is as well, just because I love Hedwig. I'll try to keep it canon-ish, but there are going to be some changes so that the Avengers can fit in. Hope this sounds okay to you guys ^^; And there will be guaranteed Harry next chapter!

* * *

Bruce, as it turned out, had learned to fly at some point. After a _very _unsteady takeoff, Tony was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the flight was… until he realized the jet was on autopilot.

Tony resisted the urge to laugh as he looked around the jet. How strange they all looked – him in his suit, Thor in his shiny leathery Asgardian getup, and the Captain all decked out in stars and spangle. They looked like they were heading to a circus, not to fight villains. _Why _did being a superhero dictate a ridiculous suit? Only Bruce looked normal, though he probably would be mistaken for a crew member in this crowd. No wonder Loki didn't take any of them seriously.

"We're getting close, guys," Bruce called after a very long period of awkward silence. They all nodded without breaking the quiet. No one seemed to know what to say to each other, but the edge in Banner's voice caught Tony's attention. He used the handy zoom feature in his HUD to check to make sure Bruce was wearing the special pants Tony had crafted for him. He was curious whether Bruce had planned ahead in case the other guy wanted to make a special guest appearance. To his relief, Bruce was wearing the thick reinforced weave. It didn't make any real difference, of course, but now if the Hulk showed up, his oversized junk wouldn't be hanging out for all to see. No one needed to be scarred by that sight again.

More awkward silence. Tony occupied himself by running diagnostics on his suit, making sure that everything was running in tip-top shape. If he was going to get it a shot in on Loki, he needed to be prepared to shoot at a second's notice – because a second would be all he'd probably get.

Finally, someone spoke out. "Is our cloak on?" Steve asked as Bruce began a shallow descent. Bruce's threw him a scathing look before turning back to the viewscreen. "No, we're heading into Loki's lair nice and visible. More fun that way." It took a second before Steve realized he was joking.

As they broke through the cloud layer, Banner activated the jet's cameras so everyone could see what was going on below. As Tony took in the sight, he felt a thin flutter of hope. Maybe Clint was right after all – for the gaping crater below did not look like it was created on purpose. It had probably once been a big building, but something – and Tony had a very shrewd guess as to what – had reduced it to cinders. But where were the people? Tony wondered. The fire trucks, the screaming citizens? He looked around again, but there was no sign anyone had even noticed. But then he realized, as Bruce banked and started to climb upwards again, that they were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a small town some at the edge of the camera's views that had probably seen the smoke, but there was no way they could have arrived yet. The Avengers, however, had arrived very quickly. Half an hour from the base, and they had already arrived. That made Tony nervous. He mentally started going through his mansions, wondering whether he could make one into another base. You could never have too many high-tech lairs, it was true, but that didn't make it any better that Loki had set up shop a jet's-flight away. What was this crazed god's play?

After adjusting his flight pattern, Bruce descended again, angling so they'd all get a better view of the crater once the clouds cleared. A low hum buzzed throughout the aircraft as Bruce powered up the guns. Tony activated his gauntlet's beams, while Thor fidgeted with Mjolnir and the Captain fussed with his shield. Bruce didn't need to do anything except keep himself well in control – if he _decided _to become the beast, he tended to have some control over the other guy. But if the _Hulk _decided he wanted to come out and play? That's when things got smashy. Hopefully, though, Loki would be around to distract him. Hulk really did seem to like pulverizing the god.

Before Bruce got them through the cloud layer, Thor appeared at Bruce's elbow. "If you see my brother when we approach, do not shoot," Thor commanded. Cutting off all protests, he continued, "A blast from your weaponry will do nothing but alert him to our presence," Thor said. "As advanced as you are, it will take more than that to kill Loki."

Tony stood up, repulsors blazing. "We've got more," He said. He went over and pulled Thor away from Bruce. "Thor, I designed these weapons myself. It packs enough to send a god flying. When he's nice and stunned, we swoop in and grab him. Easy."

Thor seemed unsure, but he took a step toward the back of the jet. Steve was already waiting there, a parachute strapped to his back.

"We're all on the same team, remember guys?" Steve said with a brave attempt at humor. Tony smiled beneath his mask as he recalled the memorable fight in the forest. He had learned one thing that day – don't mess with Grampa Steve. He vividly remembered feeling like a misbehaving kid – aiming all his guns at Thor while Thor brandished his hammer. Ignoring Steve's pleas, he was all prepared to get back into the fight… but instead he was whacked in the face by Steve's shield, a not-too-subtle reminder to behave. Ah, good times.

"Though it saddens me still to fight against my brother, I fight alongside you, Captain. As well as you, Man of Iron," He said with a regal nod in Tony's direction.

Tony curtseyed in response. "As I fight alongside you both," Tony said in a lofty impression of Thor's formality. Thor looked as unfazed as ever, but Steve seemed amused, and also a little relieved. Tony doubted it was just his curtseying skills that had put Steve's mind at ease – did he really think Thor was going to turn on them, fight them instead of his maniacal brother? Thor was many things, but he really hoped Steve wasn't so naïve to believe _that. _Thor was a golden retriever, both in loyalty and intellectual capacity. He was on their side.

"Cut the crap, guys," Bruce said. "We're going in."

Tony watched as the clouds left the jet again, leaving the cameras clear. He could see the crater better now, see the ashes still floating in the air, the flames flickering at the edges of the crater. Warped pieces of metal littered the inside of the pit, the sad remains of a solid foundation. And, staggering among the twisted spires, was a black-haired figure.

Everybody froze in shock. Even Tony was surprised. Why the _hell _was Loki just wandering around in the open, unprotected and staggering like a drunkard? "He did come," Thor whispered under his breath. "I cannot believe it."

Tony couldn't believe it either, but for a different reason than Thor. He'd always believed that Loki would find a way off Asgard, but this just didn't seem right.

"Line up, guys," Bruce said as he carefully centered the god within the crosshairs. Tony studied the figure, feeling yet another shock as he noticed something. Was Loki… wearing a _skirt?_

"Wait!" Tony shouted. Bruce whirled in his chair, a slightly alarming glint in his eyes. "_What?"_

"That's not Loki!" Tony said tersely, keeping it down to the essentials. Everybody stared. Whatever they were expecting, that wasn't it.

"And just what makes you think that?" Bruce spat through his teeth.

Tony pointed at the viewscreen. "Does Loki seem like the type to wear dresses on his day off?"

They all looked again, and this time they caught it – the edge of a black dress, billowing in the breeze. Either this was a very clever disguise, or this was not the villain they were looking for.

Bruce calmed down a bit and rechecked his coordinates. "This is exactly where the Tesseract was last," He muttered to himself. "What, do you think she's just some bystander? Caught in the crossfire?"

"Could be – or she could be in cahoots with Loki. He doesn't have to be working alone." Ah, good old Steve, breathing life back into words like 'cahoots'.

Bruce slowly started the descent again, seeking a better look at the woman, whoever she was. As they got closer, they could see that she was very angular, all lines and points, with heavily-lidded eyes. Now that they could see detail, they could see that her dress was just plain crazy, outdone only by her frizzy, crazier hairdo. Black hair was flying everywhere around this woman.

Bruce crept closer, placing his trust in the cloaking device and silenced engines. Everything seemed fine – until he crossed over the edge of the crater. Though they were several thousand feet away, the woman's head snapped up, as though she had been called. Tony watched, unsure of what to make of her reaction.

And the cockpit exploded.

Tony let out a most unmanly scream as tumbled senselessly in the air – and then he remembered he could fly. Firing his repulsor beams, he righted himself, searching for the Steve and Bruce. Thor could fly, but those two couldn't.

He found Steve first, already deploying his parachute. Good. He cast about for Thor, but the blonde god was nowhere to be seen. That was fine… but then he caught sight of the good doctor. Bruce was screaming madly, tumbling through the air with no protection but one. The hulk would save him, no doubt about it, but would probably end up killing everyone else. Apparently it was up to Tony to make sure that wasn't necessary.

Tony flew at full speed, catching Banner with plenty of time to spare. But Bruce continued to convulse even after Tony had caught him, trying to keep the monster contained. And now Tony had no use of his hand repulsors, which made steering quite difficult. He landed ungracefully by the wreckage of the plane, Banner falling the moment he touched ground. Thor landed beside them seconds later, holding a piece of what looked like Steve's parachute. "He required assistance," Thor said before Tony could ask.

Now that he was on solid ground, Tony had just enough time to think, _What the _hell _blasted us out of the sky?_

"Stark!"

Tony looked up at Thor, who was staring at Bruce. Bruce was on the ground, every muscle taut, fists clenched and pressed against the ashy ground. Tony quickly kneeled, laying a metal hand upon his shoulder. This was not good. "Hey, doc? Bruce, we're fine, we're fine. No need to unleash the big guy."

But his words could have been in Latin for all the good they did – when Bruce opened his mouth, all that came out was an inhuman growl. He staggered to his feet, stumbling away from both Tony and Thor. Bruce began to run, fighting visibly to restrain the Hulk. "Dudes!" Tony heard him shout as he ran. "You're on your own!" He jumped over what looked to be a chair from the cockpit, continuing to run until he was out of sight.

"Why is he running from us?" Thor asked, staring after Bruce. "We will soon be needing his strength. Shall I retrieve him?"

"You won't want him," Tony replied. "Did Bruce really look calm and controlled to you? If you brought him back now, Hulk would be just as likely to smash you as the woman or anyone else. We'll have to deal without him."

"I see," Thor said slowly, though he clearly didn't. Whatever. There were more important things to deal with. "Where's Steve?" Even though Thor said he had helped, the Captain had yet to appear.

Thor turned and pointed to one of the less-charred trees surrounding the crater. "There. I found him trapped within this cloth –" He held up the piece of parachute again. "After freeing him from it, I was going to bring him down, but he requested to stay. For the 'element of surprise', I believe he said."

"Great," Tony muttered. No Hulk, a Captain up a tree, and a clueless god up against someone who definitely wanted them dead. Loki or no Loki, they needed to know what they were up against. Leaving Thor by the wreckage of the plane, he took to the air, gaining altitude until he could see into the crater. He thought he saw a flicker in his vision, a hint of red – and he was blasted out of the sky. He landed hard, skidding, roughing the metal in the back of the suit. But the moment momentum was on his side again, he took back to the air. Whatever he'd been hit with hadn't done any damage to the workings of the suit itself, or so JARVIS said – though the paint would need some touching up. But the woman definitely wasn't just an innocent bystander. "JARVIS, turn that target to red, will you?" The blue of possible civilian immediately changed to red on his viewscreen, marking the woman as an enemy. He slowly gained altitude, waiting for the opportune moment. The moment he cleared the crater, the target locked, and he started throwing every weapon he had at the woman. She cackled evilly, dancing about, deflecting missiles and repulors alike with her scepter – which really looked like nothing but a stick of wood. Whatever it was, though, it was effective.

"I could use some help here!" He shouted over his shoulder, ducking as a jet of green light arched over him. So she could use the green laser of death too. Spectacular.

The day grew perceptively darker, and thunder began to rumble in the sky. Tony gained one step on her when she risked a glance upwards, but was forced backwards again by yet another jet of green light. He fired another ineffective missile at her, trying to analyze how she deflected it. There was no physical explanation for how she was still alive… which of course explained it immediately. Magic.

Lightning streaked across the now-stormy sky, and Thor flew down under the cover of the jagged fork of light. Tony fired several repulsor blasts at the woman, just trying to distract her. It worked somewhat – Thor was able to swing his hammer at her, lightning crackling mightily. But the woman dodged just in time. "You'll have to get up earlier if you want to beat me, sweetie!" Tony heard the woman squeal, her voice high and insane. And then it was close combat between the two, and Tony was not confident Thor would be the last one standing.

Tony aimed with one of his few remaining missiles. The missiles, at least, wouldn't do much to Thor if he got hit. He would save his repulsor blasts for when Thor wasn't so close. But before he could shoot, gunfire rained down, and the woman shrieked again – this time with pain. A bullet had somehow gotten though her defenses, burying itself in her arm. Thor took a swing at her, but instead ended up ducking more green light. The woman's aim seemed as impeccable as ever, so Thor took advantage of her injury, not to fight her, but to escape back to the sky. He landed moments later beside Tony, just as the earth rocked beneath their feet. Apparently the woman had tired of her green lasers, and was now firing some sort of explosion from her power stick, knocking both Thor and Tony to the ground.

"Who is this crazy bitch?!" Tony demanded, parrying every blow he could and trying to distract her enough so Thor could get a shot in. As Steve had shown, if she was distracted, her magical shield wasn't so effective. But no matter how much energy they threw at her, she always managed to deflect it – or worse, bounce it back at them. Tony ducked yet another of his own repulsor blasts, unable to gain so much of an inch on the manic woman. Steve was still holed up in his tree, ready to rain her with bullets again, but so far there hadn't been another opening. Then JARVIS informed him of a depletion in his weapons storage – all of them. He couldn't afford to be picky when deflecting her blasts, but it was costing him.

Tony felt trapped. He couldn't move farther away without abandoning Thor, couldn't take to the air without getting blasted from the sky. Every attempt at subterfuge had ended with missing death by inches. The green light was too powerful to risk getting hit by – he still vividly remembered the deaths of the scientists, how instantaneous it was. His suit might help soften the blow… but then again, it might do nothing at all. He wasn't going to risk it by getting in the way of her death ray. Her weapons seemed never-ending, but Tony knew of one way out of the fight. When the woman had been distracted by both Thor at close range and Tony from afar, her shield had not blocked Steve's shots. All they had to do was recreate that. They just had to get one more opening.

A mad cackle echoed from the crater, where he knew the woman must be behind all the debris and light. The red target on the screen danced and wavered as JARVIS tried to get a lock on her. Whatever magic she was using was interfering with his sensors – she never seemed to be where she should be. He'd thought she was more or less in the middle of the smoke and debris, but then he saw a green light fly out, much closer than it should have been. Thor dodged, but couldn't get out of the way in time. The bolt disappeared within his shoulder, and the thunder god crumpled to the ground.

The woman gave a high shriek of triumph. _"No!_" Steve cried from wherever he was hidden – Steve missed a golden opportunity and was shot at instead. Tony heard the resounding _thunk _as the laser deflected off his shield. Tony deflected whatever the woman threw at him without attacking back, every second feeling like hours as JARVIS checked for vital signs. Thor was a god, he reminded himself. As evidenced by Loki, gods did not go down easy. Thor just couldn't be _dead… _right?

The wait seemed to go on forever, and his lapse in concentration nearly cost him his own life, but then JARVIS found a heartbeat. Faint, worryingly slow, but there. He was unconscious but alive.

Then Steve flashed in his peripheral vision, heading for Thor. "He's fine!" Tony hissed as quietly as he could, yanking him back as more deadly green light flashed across his path. Then, louder, for the woman's sake, he said, "There's nothing you can do for him now!" There would be no point in protecting a supposedly dead body, and Tony didn't want to risk arousing the woman's suspicions and have her blow Thor up. Thor was alive, but he certainly looked dead. That would have to do for now.

Steve promptly covered them both with his shield when the woman sent some explosive thing after them. It did no damage to the shield but left Tony's ears ringing. "Now that I'm here…" Steve said, peering in at the dust cloud obscuring the woman, "Tony, on my word, throw everything you have at her, okay?"

Tony grunted. "I don't have much left."

"Doesn't matter. Just do it… _now!" _

This was not the time to question. Hoping very much that Steve's plan was sound, he threw everything at her, missiles, bullets, repulsor blasts, even his uni-beam. It all bounced back. Then, in the middle of the barrage, Steve threw his shield into the fray. They both heard a solid collision, and the shield didn't bounce back.

Grabbing Steve, Tony flew into the crater, not willing to lose any advantage. The woman was lying several yards away, knocked senseless by Steve's shield. Tony shot at her, but she deflected it once again. "I have failed you, master!" She shouted to the sky as she got to her feet. Tony ran forward to grab her, but she twisted away from him… and disappeared. Nothing left but some smoke and an unconscious thunder god to show she'd ever been there.

Steve and Tony both waited for several tense minutes, but the woman did not return. Slowly, Steve retreated, clambering up the side of the pit to check on Thor. Tony left him to it and examined the crater. Gamma radiation was everywhere, courtesy of the Tesseract. But there were also pieces of metal that were foreign, glinting strangely when he picked it up. There were several such pieces scattered around, along with – weirdly – a dead snake. It was charred almost past recognition, but there was no question it was the woman's, or at least someone's pet – the thing was nearly 20 feet long. There was no way that was living under the building unnoticed.

"Tony! Get up here!"

That was Steve, of course. Abandoning his search, he flew over to where Steve was crouched by Thor. "He's not waking up," He said. A cold knot formed in Tony's stomach as he kneeled beside Thor and gave him a cursory glance. He was no medic, but even he could tell his breathing was way too shallow to be healthy, and that his skin really shouldn't be that shade of gray. He stood up. "JARVIS, get Fury on the line."

Nothing but static. Stupid effing magic. He took to the air and landed a few yards away. Suddenly Fury was in his headset, crystal clear. The magic apparently had a boundary – probably how the woman had found them and shot them down in the first place. They'd crossed some taboo magic boundary and revealed themselves… somehow. He tried to force all thoughts of magic and voodoo out of his head. It only promised to make his growing headache worse.

"Stark, what happened?" Fury demanded immediately.

Tony shook his head, feeling suddenly very tired. "I'll explain everything later. Send Natasha or somebody with a jet to pick us up. Steve, Thor and me. Hulk ran wild, don't know where."

Fury only frowned. "Explain."

"We got blasted out of the air by some maniac. Whoever she was, she wasn't Loki." Tony said, not in the mood for wisecracks. He just wanted to get back to some relatively safe place where he could mull over everything without worrying about having his head blasted off. There had to be a defense against magic. Technology could do amazing things… so why couldn't it mess with magic the way magic messed with electricity?

And, though he did not say it out loud, he just wanted to know that Thor was going to be all right.

"And?" Fury pressed.

"And, we fought, she escaped. And… Thor was hit. By the green light."

Silence from the other end. "He's still alive," Tony said wearily. "But unconscious."

Fury said nothing for a long while. Finally, he said, "I'll send a jet," and disconnected.

"How rude," Tony muttered to himself. But with the promise of a ride in a half an hour, Tony went to stand beside Steve and unconscious Thor, counting down the seconds until the plane arrived. There was a lot of research to be done, projects to do. It was high time for magic users to meet the true mechanical genius of Tony Stark.

* * *

Oog, 'kay, writing through a flu isn't fun. I apologize in advance if the next chapter is slow in coming.

Just want to make clear - the snake Tony found isn't Nagini. Also I do hope I hinted hard enough at who they were fighting. Please yell at me in the reviews if I didn't ^^;

And huge shout-out to the Avengers gag reel, which I loved xDD Hope you enjoyed my recreation of my favorite part when Mark Ruffalo runs away. :3

Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and follows! Can't say it enough - thank you! Hope this was fun for you to read =)


	4. Sleeping like the Dead

Okay, I lied XD No Harry in this chapter, but there is a mention of him! :D Sorry. This was originally part of a (much) longer chapter, but I cut it so I would have something to post xD The rest of the chapter is still in edit mode (translate: I'm still not happy with it... X( ), but should be up today or tomorrow.

Anyways, enjoy this teaser. And expect good stuff very very soon :3

* * *

Fury didn't seem to be taking any chances – the jet that finally arrived was not piloted by Clint and Natasha, but two random SHIELD members. Tony was surprisingly upset by that – he would have preferred people he knew he could trust in a fight. The SHIELD members were polite and didn't gawk too much, but that was about it. Sure, they were probably master assassins and such, but Tony just wasn't in the mood.

The man went to scour the crater for any additional clues while the woman came to help with Thor. Moving Thor, though, wasn't the hard part – it was his mighty hammer that presented a challenge. Tony had heard quite a detailed account from Bruce about that hammer – if the Hulk couldn't move it, no one could. It was resting in the palm of Thor's hand, looking rather innocent and unassuming considering it weighed more than anything else on the planet. He didn't want to just leave it for anyone to wander over and examine, but he couldn't seem to come up with anything else.

Unless…

"Hey, you," He said, gesturing at the female SHIELD member. "Agent Sarova," Steve hissed from the corner of his mouth.

"Sarova, whatever. Come over here."

The woman – pardon, Sarova – glared but approached. "Yes?" She said in a tone that was hardly polite.

He had bigger things to worry about than an insulted SHIELD member. "Get Thor's hand around the hammer. Whatever you do, don't touch the handle."

She did so. Mjolnir did not spark, and it seemed like his hand moved a little bit as she did so. So far so good.

"Keep your hand there," He said warningly as she made to pull away. "Steve, get under his arm and lift when Sarova does. _Carefully."_

"But Mjolnir—" Steve tried to protest, but Tony cut him off. "Thor's still holding it, right? Let's see if he's still worthy while out cold. He got knocked out nobly and everything."

Steve shook his head but did so. Sarova and Steve carefully lifted up Thor's arm – and Mjolnir seemed fine with Thor's arm being used as a puppet. Amazing the steps they had to take to appease a hammer. An awesome hammer, it was true – but still, a freaking _hammer. _They shouldn't have to bother trying to keep it happy and non-heavy.

Once his arm was suspended and it didn't seem likely that Mjolnir was going to land on anybody, Tony helped lift Thor up. They awkwardly carried him to the jet and laid him on the stretcher. Once he was down, Sarova went outside and yelled, "Kieran! Finish and get up here _now!"_

Well, maybe they weren't so polite after all.

Agent Kieran came bearing a handful of the weird metal, a soil sample, and the coiled body of the dead snake. Tony was glad his mask was filtered – everyone's nose wrinkled when he carried the charred thing in. Sarova wordlessly offered him a bag to dump it in. After carefully putting aside the dirt and metal, he quickly put the body inside and stored it in the cargo bay. Everyone looked relieved when the latch closed. Burned snake brewed up a mighty stink, it seemed. He felt kind of bad for it, though. Whatever its crimes, Tony was sure it hadn't deserved to be burned to a crisp.

Tony looked back at the crater as Sarova took off. He had JARVIS use every filter and scanner he had, but he couldn't see the magical barrier that had been their downfall. The scanners registered energy in the area, nothing more. No obvious line at the edge of the crater, no concrete area that shouted, 'there's a magic spell here!' JARVIS could only say that magic had been used at some point in the general area. So helpful.

"JARVIS, take down all energy signatures that you can read. See if they match with anything we or SHIELD has ever come across before."

That would involve breaking into SHIELD's intelligence base again, but Tony could live with that.

"So what did you guys meet down there?" Agent Sarova asked as they sped back toward the mansion.

"Um…" Steve replied eloquently. "…We're not entirely sure."

"She was either Loki's lady friend or some new baddie," Tony replied. "But whoever she was, she's definitely related to whoever massacred everyone at the SHIELD base. She loved using that green laser of death."

"What do you mean, 'whoever'?" Agent Kieran asked from the co-pilot's seat. "That was Loki at SHIELD."

Why was everyone so certain of that? "Right, because Loki's obviously the only person in the entire universe interested in unlimited energy," Tony said. "Of course."

Steve turned to Tony. "What, you think it wasn't Loki?"

Hadn't he said that at least three times already? "No, I don't think it's Loki. Does any of this sound like Loki to you?" He was going to wait for the big reveal when had evidence and other such things, but screw it. "If anything Thor said was accurate, Loki should still be stuck on Asgard. Even if he somehow beamed himself here, he's not one to just kill everyone, grab what he wants, and get out. He loves the _drama, _Steve. He wants to see us squirm. Do you _not _remember the mess he left the first time he paid SHIELD a visit? Like I said, he's hardly a come, kill, leave kind of guy."

"So what, you think you know everything about him? His last plan didn't work out so well, Tony. So he changed tactic, tried something new. And so far, it looks like it's going pretty well for him this time."

It was a good point, but not enough. "Okay, fine. Let's get technical. It's still preliminary, but JARVIS hasn't caught a whiff of Loki's energy signature. Anywhere. Not at the SHIELD base –" He heard exclamations of surprise from the agents driving the plane, but ignored them. Of course Tony had collected all the information he could, by any means necessary. Really, it should just be expected by now. "And not here. Sure, Loki could have teamed up with someone new, but I don't think so. There's no big flashy army, no wormhole, no spectacular deaths and possessed people running around. Sure, that takes more effort, but why would he deny himself all the fun? I could be completely wrong," His tone stated clearly that he doubted that possibility, "But doesn't all of that seem a little strange to you?"

Steve crossed his arms and said nothing. He was obviously still set with his 'new battle plan' idea. Well, fine then. He didn't have to be on board yet, but Tony would convince him eventually, one way or another.

But having evidence would probably help matters.

The rest of the ride back to the mansion was a quiet one. Agent Sarova briefly spoke up to say they'd located Bruce, thankfully not the Hulk, in the middle of the woods – another jet was already en route to pick him up. So no worries there. Everything would have been okay – except for Thor. The thunder god remained as still as death in the back of the jet. Tony felt helpless – there was quite literally nothing he could do to rouse him, short of making a great deal of noise and seeing if that worked. But though it was tempting, he really doubted it would actually work. So Tony was left twiddling his mechanical thumbs and watching JARVIS run the energy scans. It was disheartening to see that through thousands upon thousands of references, he had yet to find a match. Still, for every thousand he compared the signatures to, there were still thousands more. They'd find a match eventually… or that's what Tony told himself, anyway.

When they landed in the mansion, Fury himself was waiting to greet them at the hangar doors. "We finally found a contact," He said with no prelude or trivial things like hellos. "Someone who might know what's going on here. Come with me." He walked off immediately, leaving Tony and Steve to follow.

Ah, no. This was not SHIELD HQ. "Uh, excuse me? This is my mansion here, Nick. I'll be doing the 'come with me,' if you please."

Fury turned around. "Take your ego down a couple notches, Stark," Fury snapped. " 'Your' mansion? You may own the building, but it is outfitted for SHIELD agents. So that makes it mine as well. Of course I know my way around - And I also know where the contact is. You don't. So shut up and follow me."

"Pissy cyclops," Tony muttered under his breath. He was going to have JARVIS program in some surprises for Fury next time he decided to visit. He was busy plotting when he noticed Steve's expression. The captain was turned away, but he was definitely hiding a smile.

"Something funny, Rogers?"

"I never thought I'd see you lose a war of words to Fury," Steve said, chortling. Swearing under his breath, Tony shouldered past Steve, _accidentally _knocking him into the wall in the process. "Information first, continuation of pissing contest after," Tony said over his shoulder.

"I heard that," Fury said from in front. Tony ignored him.

"So, who's the contact?" Steve asked, brushing drywall off his shoulder as he caught up. Fury kept walking as he talked.

"We sent out descriptions of the attack in the Tesseract room, trying to find a match, whether this has been seen on Earth before. We got a hit through the British prime minister. He patched us through to someone who promises to have all the information we need."

"And the catch?" Tony asked. Was this person a defector, or something? Would there have to be a tradeoff for the info?

"No catch." Tony snorted. "No catch," Fury repeated. "He checks out clean, so far. He wants him beaten as badly as we do."

"So, who is he?" Tony asked, wondering whether he knew him – and why, whether he knew him or not, he hadn't surfaced sooner.

Fury turned the corner and opened the door to the conference room.

"His name is Harry Potter."

* * *

Yay for Harry!

Should mention - Sarova and Kieran are just random SHIELD members, not canon, I just made them up ^^;

Hope you enjoyed this, but I also hope you will forgive me for this very short and fairly pointless chapter. As I said, teaser, yes? xD

But for serious Harry and co. are going to be in the next chapter, and Loki in the one after that. Then things are really gonna get interesting... D

And I really need to start naming my chapters...

Anyway. Thank you again again again for the reviews and favorites and follows - yaaaaay it's always so wonderful to see that people actually like reading this! :3


	5. Unlikely Alliances

Many, many apologies for this ridiculous gap. Real life was being... rough.

Sorry everyone for taking so long :(

Anyways, a word about the canon - I think I'm going to end up smashing a few pieces of the HP canon. Yaxley did _not _tail a ride on Hermione's sleeve, so the HP crew can - and still are - using Grimmauld place as a base. They're still more or less in contact with big members of the Order of the Phoenix via Patronuses and other sneaky ways of communication. It was through the Order that the Prime Minister managed to get a message through to Harry. I hope this isn't too big of a break for anybody... :/

Oh, and the rating for this might jump up to M depending on how dirty I want to get with the language, and especially depending on how the FrostIron goes... oops! Have I said too much? xD

And thank you thank you _THANK YOU _to the followers and favoriters and reviewers! I have over 100 followers... I can't believe it! This is so amazing! And I find myself on tenderhooks waiting for reviews, I never know what people will think of this story xD Thank you all so very much!

Anyhoo, I'll stop yammering now. More at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

For all the buildup, Tony had expected something a little more grand.

"What, not James Bond? Never heard of this Potter guy," Tony said.

"You will," Fury replied. He gestured to the open conference room door. "After you."

Tony took off his helmet, tucking it under his arm as he entered the room. He couldn't help feeling a little surprised at what he saw there.

The conference room was not empty. Among the SHIELD guards, three teenagers stood at the head of the table. Two boys and a girl, they were gritty, grimy, and above all, _young. _16, 17 maybe, tops. The boy in the middle had badly-cut black hair and round glasses. Behind the round glasses were very, very green eyes – Tony was reminded uncomfortably of Loki, and looked away. The girl beside him was taller, although that could have been an illusion created by her incredibly bushy hair. She was possibly pretty, Tony thought, but it was a little hard to tell, considering her choice in clothing. All three of them were dressed in several layers of sweaters and jackets, making them all look oddly lumpy. Instead of looking like he was trying to discern her figure (no need to start off on the wrong foot too early, Tony thought) He looked to the last boy, who was standing almost possessively by the girl. He had startling red hair, almost the same color as the red on his suit. Nothing else distinctive about him, other than his rather mulish look. All and all, three teenagers.

Why was Fury so happy about finding these people?

And then he noticed how the guards were treating them. Not with disdain, as Tony currently was, but something rather close to awe.

What the hell was going on here?

Fury stepped into the room.

"Potter, this is –"

"Tony Stark," the black-haired boy finished, stepping around the table with his hand outstretched. "The famous Iron Man."

Well, someone who addressed him like that couldn't be _too _bad. He offered his gauntleted hand, rather enjoying the discomfited look on the boy's face as he shook his huge metallic hand. But he was distracted as he heard a whisper from the back of the room – the girl was whispering to the red-haired boy. But with the room so quiet, Tony could clearly hear the words.

"I think Harry's enjoying not being recognized for once," The girl said, her face hidden behind her bushy hair. "We've done better hiding from the Muggles than I thought," the boy replied.

This was going a bit far. Muggles? It sounded like some weird new dog breed, but that didn't fit the context. And who was this guy he was currently shaking hands with?

He didn't get a chance to ask. "And Steve Rogers," the boy said, breaking away from Tony and going to where Steve was lurking in the corner of the room. They said something to each other, but Tony was more interested in hearing the gossiping teenager's conversation – it was slightly harder to hear this time, but he thought he caught "—Strengthening Solution, right?"

Okay, that was it. Tony turned towards the pair and said, "Guys, room's quiet. I can hear everything you're saying. What's this about a strength solution, and what the hell is a muggle?" Tony didn't like asking questions, but he hated not knowing the answer more.

To his intense surprise, the girl answered him immediately, though she looked rather disdainful as she spoke. "A strengthening solution is a potion that gives extra physical power to the drinker, though the degree of strength depends on the quality on the potion." She said as though she was speaking common knowledge. Maybe she was talking about the Steve's serum in really weird jargon or something. He let that pass. "And Muggle?"

"Non-wizard folk," ginger-hair grunted.

Well, that was ever so helpful. He opened his mouth to make an undoubtedly snarky remark, but Fury cut in.

"I'll take it from here. Stark, Rogers, this is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. I take it you three already know the Avengers."

"Who doesn't know about them?" The girl, Hermione, replied. "It was plastered all over the _Prophet _for days." The black-haired boy, Harry, frowned at this, though Tony had no idea why.

Two more things Tony didn't know. This was not shaping out to be a good day. He tried to regain control of this wacky meeting.

"Okay, they know about us, they have a prophet-thing, and they like dogs. How is all of this relevant?"

"It's _relevant, _Stark, because they know who we're fighting. We're fighting a sorcerer – and these three people are wizards."

Dead silence. Wizards. That meant more Lokis running around. Great. The dirty teens didn't look much like Asgardians, but magic could do wondrous things. "Just how did they get here without the Tesseract?" Tony questioned, wondering whether this was the golden nugget of information these people had. "Was it new teleportation, or—"

"They're from Earth, Stark," Fury said.

"England, specifically," Harry added casually.

Tony looked from Fury to Harry, feeling uncomfortably bewildered. "So what, England breeds mutants or something?"

"They do, but no more than the rest of the world," Fury said. "They're wizards, Stark. Surely after all you've seen, this can't come as too much of surprise." There was definitely sarcasm in his tone, and there was a barest hint of a grin on Fury's face. He was enjoying this too, dammit. First he got verbally spanked, and now he was getting mocked. That would have been more than enough to send him heading towards the alcohol, but now there were wizards from earth in the mix?

Well, that did mean one thing.

He turned to Harry. "So, are we fighting Loki or not?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think Loki's involved. This… _man,"_ His voice grew dark with hatred, "Likes to work alone. His death eaters think they're involved, of course, but anything serious is done by him alone. He trusts no one."

Whoever this mystery man was – and why couldn't Harry have given a name? – had done some serious damage. Tony doubted Harry even knew how murderous he looked right now. This baddie must have done something really bad.

But all that could be dealt with later. There was one very important thing to do. Turning to Steve, he put on his largest, most infuriatingly satisfied grin. "I told you so," he said slowly. "Told. You. So."

"You've made your point, Tony," Steve said, no longer smiling.

"Have I? Don't think I have yet. Just started, actually."

"_Enough," _Fury snapped.

Tony frowned."Enough is right, Nick. What exactly is your problem? We're grown men. Enough of you acting like our babysitter," Tony snapped right back.

"There is a deranged madman hunting the streets with unlimited power right now, and you want to annoy Steve about some stupid bet?"

"Yes," Tony said immediately. Fury scowled. "If you speak out of line once more, Stark, I'll personally see to it that a zipper is installed on your mouth, with the only key in my possession. You are to listen and do as you're told for once in your life, or you will never deliver a wisecrack again. Are we clear?" There was no jest in his expression. Yikes. Tony backed off.

"So who are we up against, Harry?" Tony said, the picture of innocence. Probably not the wisest decision, for usually when he looked innocent he was up to something. But Fury said nothing and let Harry speak.

Harry took a deep breath and glanced back at his companions before continuing. "It all started a few months ago – well, truthfully, everything started 16 years ago," He said, "But that will take longer to explain. His most current plan started about four months ago, when Professor Trelawney was reported missing from Hogwarts.

"We don't know much about it – the Order of the Phoenix doesn't have much footing in Hogwarts anymore. But Kingsley managed to send us an owl about Trelawney disappearing."

"She's a Seer," Hermione added, taking in Tony's blank expression. Tony's expression didn't change, he just added Seer to his growing mental list of new terms. He was going to need a glossary for all this new magic-talk.

"Anyway, ever since then, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named dropped off the radar. His Death Eaters kept up the havoc, of course, but actual sightings just… stopped. The next that we heard of him was when he broke into your base.

"The Tesseract isn't magical like our magic –" He pulled out a thin stick from his jacket pocket. A scepter thing just like the one the maniac woman had carried. So they could probably use that green laser of death too. He stopped wondering whether the day would get worse and just settled down knowing things would continue to plummet. At least these people were supposedly on the good side.

"So, as far as we know, he hasn't figured out how to influence it yet. Fury said you found a dead snake?"

It took Tony a second to find his voice. "A big charred one," He said, "And some really weird metal."

The look that Harry and company shared next was not a promising one. They looked close to panicked. "Oh, no," Hermione whispered, her voice faint with horror. The boy named Ron convulsively gripped the front of his shirt, which seemed a rather odd reaction, but whatever. Everything was weird at this point.

But most importantly, what the **** were they all talking about?

They clearly knew more about this, but they were very unwilling to divulge anything else. Tony flexed his gauntlet, feeling rather irritated. This was an entirely new world for him to deal with, to learn about. Asgard was hard enough, but this new world was on _earth. _How was that fair?

Fury crossed his arms and stared at Harry. "We won't be able to help if we don't have all the facts," He said evenly. Tony frowned at Fury. Oh, fine, Nick could be polite _now. _The picture of a calm, respectable leader. If Tony was dicking around, he got death threats. But if these people withheld information, Fury asked them nicely.

There _had _to be a way to throw Fury through a wall and make it look like an accident. There just had to be.

Harry looked like he was about to say something, but he stopped, looking around at the various SHIELD guards still littered about the room. Fury took the hint.

"I think we're safe enough in here, agents. Back to your stations." They all immediately filed out the door, though a few were less disciplined and scowled as they left. Tony couldn't blame them – this was probably going to end up being a good story, and they were missing out. Poor souls.

"So?" Fury prompted. Finally, there seemed to be a slight edge to his voice.

Harry fidgeted with his scepter-thing, appearing still at a loss for what to say. Maybe he needed some prompting.

"Okay, so your muse is running dry. I get that. So you get to answer my questions instead." Tony wasn't going to take no for an answer. "First of all – who are we fighting, and what the hell did he do to you?"

Harry looked down at the ground, his hands clenched around the scepter. Touchy subject. Tony may have backed off a little under other circumstances, but he needed to know. "We're not going to be able to kill him if we don't even know who he is," Steve offered, still leaning in the corner.

"We can't say his name." That was Ginger talking.

"What do you mean, you can't say his name?" Fury growled. Finally, some aggression! And here Tony was thinking he was starting to become a pacifist.

"We can't say it. No one can. The name's Tabooed," Hermione said.

Fury sighed, recognizing he was out his depth with this magic mumbo jumbo. "Can you write it down, then?"

Harry looked up from where he'd been glaring a hole in the floor. He wordlessly held his hand out for a pen. So demanding. Fury pulled a pen and paper from somewhere and handed it to the boy wizard. Harry scribbled something, then met Tony's eyes. "Do not say this name aloud, whatever you do," He said, and Tony was internally impressed by the steel in his voice. This boy was a leader. A short leader, but a leader.

Tony did not say the name when Harry slid him the paper. He looked down, surprised to see only a single written word.

Voldemort.

Tony couldn't help laughing. _Voldemort?_

Hogwarts and Voldemort. Where did they get these names?

Still snorting, Tony passed the paper to Fury. He seemed unimpressed as he passed it to Steve. Steve gave the page one look of bewilderment, then looked to Harry. "And what _can _we call him?"

"He-who-must-not-be-Named," Ron supplied. "Or You-Know-Who. Chief Death Eater works too. Everyone'll know who you're talking about."

Not everyone.

Steve passed the page back to Harry, who tapped it with his scepter-thing. Tony tried very hard to keep his face smooth and blank as the paper caught fire. When nothing but ashes were left, Harry waved the scepter, raining water on the flame. Another wave of the wand and the wet ashes disappeared as though they'd never been there. Even the table was dry.

Harry then finally spoke, though he returned his gaze to the floor before he did so.

"You-Know-Who is a dark wizard," Harry began. "Who wants world domination – to subjugate the Muggles and have pure-bloods rule." Tony resisted the strong urge to throw his hands up in frustration. His 'I have no clue what this means' list was getting ridiculously long. "He heard a prophecy from Professor Trelawney 16 years ago." He paused, and Tony had the distinct impression he was choosing to leave something out. "…going off of her prediction, he thought she meant my parents would be a danger to him in the future. He murdered them. He killed them and tried to kill me."

Wow. Tony actually felt kind of bad for all his snarkiness. But he really hadn't seen that one coming.

"I'm sorry," Steve said awkwardly. Harry shook his head and continued his tale. "He tried to kill me, but his curse rebounded. It nearly destroyed him –"

"Wish it had," Ron grunted.

"But it didn't," Harry said. "He turned into some sort of… ghost. If he'd stayed that way, none of this would have happened, but he managed to get a body back, and a wand. He's more dangerous than your space villains, even without the Tesseract."

"A wand?" Steve questioned. Raising his eyebrows, Harry raised his scepter-thing. Ah. So the scepter-thing was a wand. Sure, why not.

"So he's back now," Ron said. "And doing a pretty good job on the subjugation."

"The wizarding world's in chaos," Hermione added.

"But –" Steve started to say, but Fury cut him off. "This is all very well, but my team here didn't meet with a man. They fought with a woman. Any idea who she was?"

They looked at each other, then Hermione said tersely, "Describe her."

"Absolute maniac," Tony said immediately. " Madwoman. Crazy with her scepter – wand, sorry. Dressed in period clothes gone wrong. Black hair, looked like a corpse. Her hair was a rat's nest with ten generations of rats. She screamed 'I have failed you, master!' when she got beamed away. Any of that sound familiar?"

Hermione scowled, looking as murderous as Harry had. She reached down to the ground, seeming to dig in her boot – then she pulled out a scruffy beaded bag. They all watched, bewildered, as the witch dug around in the bag, which engulfed firs t her hand, then her elbow, then her entire arm – yet the bag still looked only a few inches deep.

_Magic, Tony. Magic, _he repeated to his tenuous grip on sanity.

"Oh, forget it," Hermione grumbled. Withdrawing her still-intact arm, she tossed the bag on the table. All non-magical folk in the room jumped as it clanged loudly, as though she'd thrown several iron bricks on the table. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the bag. "_Accio Prophet!"_

Immediately, a yellowed newspaper flew from the bag and into her outstretched hand. Appearing supremely unimpressed with her own magic, she put her wand back in her pocket and unraveled the newspaper. "This look familiar?"

A moving hologram was on the newspaper, of a familiar woman screeching soundlessly at the photographer. No question as to who that was.

"That's the chick," Tony said, watching the hologram, which probably wasn't a hologram at all, and was instead more magical crap.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Hermione said, stuffing the newspaper back in her bag. Muffled crashes could be heard from within. Tony moved away from the table a little.

"You're right, Tony. She's an absolute madwoman." Hermione crossed her arms tightly. "She's You-Know-Who's second in command. She was probably sent to clean up after their little accident with the Tesseract. Make it look like they were never there."

"She, along with Fenrir Greyback, are probably the most dangerous Death Eaters, apart from the Chief," Harry said. "People they want to kill usually don't escape."

"You did," Tony pointed out.

Harry shifted in his chair, scratching at his forehead. His badly-cut bangs moved, and Tony caught a glimpse of a strange scar on his forehead – deep and jagged, almost like a bolt of lightning. Harry smoothed his bangs over the scar quickly, almost as though he was self-conscious of it. Tony would have questioned him about it, but the shape had reminded him of a rather pressing matter – the unconscious thunder god residing in the hangar. Harry had said Voldy had _tried _to kill him… had the same thing happened to Thor?

Tony stood, feeling a little horrified with himself that Thor had slipped his mind. Then again, his mind had been inundated by a ludicrous amount of ridiculous information – maybe he didn't need to feel too bad. He had remembered him, that was the important thing. Though he was a little surprised Steve hadn't spoken up earlier.

"Listen, I think we've got time for the rest of the explanations," Tony said, ignoring Fury's furious glare. "We're safe enough here so long as we don't say Moldy's name, right?" Before anyone had a chance to answer, he continued, "While we were fighting that mad lady… Thor got hit by one of her lasers. Come and see if you can fix him please?"

Hermione was already to the door before Fury gave his official permission. Passing the eager witch, Tony snapped his helmet back on and led the way down to the hanger, only to be informed by the ever-helpful JARVIS that he'd been moved to the medical bay. With the speaker turned off, he kept up a steady stream of curses as he led his troupe up to the medical bay.

JARVIS, when not providing late hints, was getting every reading he could off of Harry and company's wands, as well as any energy signatures they were giving off themselves. It wasn't much, but it was something.

When they got to Thor, Tony was struck again by just how terrible the god looked. Ashen gray, barely breathing, limp as a wet noodle. This really didn't look good.

"He looks bad," Ron said, stating the obvious. "What did he get hit by?"

"The green laser light of death," Tony said. "It looked like the same light that killed two dozen people back at the SHIELD base."

Silence reigned in the room. Hermione was the one to break it. "_Avada Kedavra,_" She said, her voice hushed.

"Abra Kedabra, whatever. Make him better, please?"

"Stark, that's the killing curse," Harry said. "No one survives it."

"Well, he _did," _Tony replied curtly.

Harry paused. "Did anyone die for him?"

"_No,_" Tony said emphatically, wondering where in the world Harry had thought of that question. "We were the only ones there."

"He shouldn't be alive," Ron said, staring down at Thor.

"He still is, Ginger," Tony said irritably.

"He shouldn't be," Ron retorted stubbornly.

"He is! He's still breathing, isn't he?"

"Still shouldn't be."

Stubborn argumentative wizards. Tony turned away from him with yet another curse. JARVIS placed a light target on Ron, just in case he wanted to stun him a little, but Tony's true anger was borne of nervousness, nervousness and fear that Thor wasn't going to be all right.

"Okay, so we've all covered the fact that he shouldn't be alive. Let's focus on the fact that he _is. _Any suggestions?"

Hermione was studying Thor intently. "There's no known cure, but I don't see how curative tonics would hurt any," She said. "Maybe we can call in Madam Pomfrey…?"

"I'd trust her more than anyone in St. Mungo's right now," Harry agreed. "She wouldn't be able to go back to Hogwarts, though."

"They'll find another healer," Ron said. "I don't think there's a better choice. We don't know who's infiltrated Mungo's."

"He seems to be in a coma, best as I can tell," Hermione said, looking at a book she'd probably pulled from her abyss-bag. "There's no telling how long he can hold off the curse. He could go at any time."

There were exclamations of surprise and horror around the room – Tony was happy his speakers were still off, because he'd shouted right along with the rest of them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione started planning how to contact who, what to do then, etc… Tony lost track. He didn't know enough about what they were talking about to keep track – it was a feeling he was starting to be familiar with. He twiddled his mechanical thumbs but had JARVIS record their conversation for future reference, just in case.

"We're not finished debriefing yet," Fury said as the wizards began to move toward the door. "Do you want Thor back alive?" Hermione asked him. His pause was enough.

"At least take this." He pressed a small black phone into Harry's hand. "Encrypted line. Call if you need help or to tell us where to pick you up."

With a nod and a salute, the wizards disappeared out the door. JARVIS informed him that they disappeared from all readings just a few steps outside the front door. So they could to the beam-me-up-Scotty move too. Hmm.

Fury was the next out the door. "Keep an eye on him," Fury said as he left. "I need to go see what I can find on this Chief Death Eater. I'll keep you posted." And he, too, was gone.

And so it was just Tony and Steve, standing beside their unconscious and possibly-soon-to-be-dead friend. The thought was crippling. Wordlessly, Steve and Tony both sank into chairs. Tony really should have been trying to grapple with the new information, trying to figure out how to make it work in his favor, but for once, friendship – or something close, anyway – won out. He stayed with Steve in case anything changed or if he was needed. Maybe if Thor started to go, a good arc reactor blast would help bring him back.

Or maybe there would be absolutely nothing he could do. But Tony was going to stay with him anyway, at least for now. Mulling things over in his head didn't require a laboratory, anyway. A chair in a medical bay would do just fine.

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed ^^

A few words, as always, it seems -

I thought the Prophet, being a newspaper, even one in Voldy's grasp, would report on the Battle of New York. I would think the wizards would find it _more _suspicious if they ignored such a huge event - which is, of course, how Harry and co. know about The Avengers.

And for some reason, Tony likes calling Ron ginger. I'm not entirely sure how well those two are going to get along xD

And for those not as well versed in Harry Potter lingo, I'm sure you feel just like Tony in this chapter, my apologies. Harry will eventually get around to telling everyone what the heck they were blathering about xD

And I think that's it. Thanks for reading! Next chapter should be up in a day or two - for real, this time, I promise! xD


	6. Alarm Clock

All riiight we're so close! Loki's going to be in the next chapter! :D I had other plans originally for this chapter, but I just want to introduce the God of Mischief dangit so I changed some. X3

I'm super-excited for next chapter (even though I'm writing it...) because Loki's finally going to make an appearance, so hopefully that'll speed me up some! ^^;

And about last chapter - I don't know why I feel the need to explain myself, but eh. If I had been being 100% percent serious, the meeting between Harry and the Avengers would not have gone that way. Harry would have given a better description, dumbed it down since he knows exactly what it's like to be out of the loop in the magical world... But I have to say that I just loved the idea of all the readers following the thread of conversation with ease, and Tony sitting there dumbfounded without a clue xD That was one of the funnest bits I've ever written, I was dredging up all my HP knowledge and trying to figure out how to fit it in. x3 Reallly hoping another situation like that will present itself in the future. X]

Anyway! A big huge THANK YOU to all my wonderful readers, your follows and favorites and reviews mean more than I could ever say ^^ But food often delivers essential messages that words cannot hope to communicate... so here! *puts out big plate of brownies* As a thank you. xD

Enjoy!

* * *

Nick Fury was not happy.

Back at the helicarrier, Fury had done a preliminary search. This 'Chief Death Eater,', it seemed, could be held responsible for dozens upon dozens of 'natural' crimes. Before the Tony and Steve had made their appearance, he'd had a chat with Harry, about the mechanics of the magic. Of course it couldn't be that easy – not even Harry could properly explain how magic worked. It just _did. _Harry could, however, tell him the signs of magical tampering. That was actually easy – when there was no logical explanation, magic was likely at work.

Wasn't that just _wonderful._

"Agent Hill!" Fury barked as he stormed up to the bridge. Maria Hill appeared from nowhere.

"Sir?"

Fury was not one to mince words. "Bring up every file you can find of deaths like those of our scientists. Any crimes that don't make sense, deaths that can't be explained - search every database and get it on my desk."

Agent Hill disappeared as quickly as she had come. Fury rubbed his temples, dreading the amount of files Hill was sure to find. Wizards had been living under their noses, and not even SHIELD had heard a whisper about their world. If they could hide their very existence from the world's best spy organization, he shuddered to think about what else was hiding beneath their spells and smoke.

* * *

Tony and Steve played bedside duty faithfully, but Thor did not wake up. Several hours into their self-imposed guard, the girl, Hermione, suddenly sprang up on his sensors, escorting someone JARVIS failed to recognize. JARVIS immediately brought up the security camera feed – Hermione was leading a gray-haired lady though the hallway. Two bags were draped over the woman's back, and both of their arms were laden with books and noxious-looking bottles. Undoubtedly this was Popfray or whoever they had been looking for.

_Shall I let her pass, sir? _

Tony nodded, knowing JARVIS would recognize the gesture. The security feed snapped off. Tony couldn't believe the turn of events. This girl, Hermione, could easily be leading in an assassin, a killer. Why did he trust someone who he'd known for about five minutes, and who also was, for a fact, more powerful than he was? Tony Stark was usually not a trusting person. Where was this coming from?

Ugh. He _needed _a drink.

Hermione made it to the medical bay a few minutes later, the gray-haired lady following immediately afterward. The woman _tsk'd _under her breath as she made a beeline for Thor. She didn't give him or Steve a second glance as she dropped her bag with a _thunk _and immediately began rifling through its contents.

"I'll take it from here," She said in the vague direction of Tony. Tony didn't move. It was one thing to let someone inside (though he was still a bit surprised at his decision) but it was another thing entirely to just leave two strangers alone with a defenseless god.

"I'll stay, Tony. You have things to do." Steve oh-so-subtly picked up his shield, watching the gray-haired lady. So Thor wouldn't be unattended, at least, and Steve was right – there w_ere _things he should really be doing. But Tony still didn't leave.

"Here, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, passing her a lurid-green potion. With a sigh of satisfaction, Madam Pomfrey yanked the stopper off, releasing a copious amount of smoke. Tony stood immediately – that stuff definitely didn't look safe. Before he could say a single word, Madam Pomfrey snapped, "Do calm down, Tin Man. It's just an awakening potion."

"And how do we know that? Why should we trust you?" Steve said abruptly. The Cap had a point.

The gray-haired witch observed them both sternly, rather like a teacher would. Tony didn't care. He didn't like this, didn't like leaving Thor in the hands of people he hardly knew. He didn't like interacting with people he barely knew, much less do anything of importance with them.

"Not everyone is evil, Captain," the witch said, surprisingly gentle. "A little trust goes a long way."

"A little poison goes a long way, too," Tony retorted.

"Mr. Stark, if I had wanted him dead, this would not be the way to do it. Feeding him poison in front of two armed men is not the path to success," She said matter-of-factly. "However, nothing I say will convince you entirely. With that in mind," Her voice was rather condescending at this point, "the choice is yours. Either allow me to try to heal your friend, or denounce me as a follower of You-Know-Who. I see no other reason why I should be here."

Was being overly dramatic a prerequisite for becoming a sorcerer? There _was _a middle area between the two extreme spectrums. Even if she wasn't with Moldy, that didn't mean she wasn't up to no good.

But Fury trusted Hermione, or at least as much as Fury ever trusts. And Hermione trusted this stern lady.

And there was an implied question in Madam Pomfrey's statement – _Did they have a choice?_

He knew the answer to that. No, they didn't really. Thor didn't seem to be getting any better on his own, and though all he'd seen of their magic so far was parlor tricks, he was sure that their wands held a far more serious power than fetching things and putting out fires.

In the end, though, Tony was not the one to give the final okay. Steve gave both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey a serious staredown, and Tony was impressed by the implied threat in his gaze. But then he nodded and waved them both forward, sitting back down solidly in the chair. Captain America was not going anywhere.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "A very wise decision," She said smartly, then immediately started forward to Thor, the still-smoking potion clenched in her hand. Hermione followed after, a leather-bound book in one hand and two more potions in the other.

"I got this, Tony," Steve said. He sounded more confident than Tony felt.

More trusting. He was getting really tired of all this faith and goodwill.

But the Cap wasn't some random witch with smoking potions. Tony stood and sent a very clear message. He raised two fingers, pointing first at his eyes, then at Madam Pomfrey's. He repeated the gesture just in case the melodramatic witches had missed it. _I'm watching you guys. No funny business._

With a last reassuring nod from Steve, Tony left, heading towards his workshop with a sense of measured relief. Though Fury called his treasured room a 'greasy robot-filled junk heap', to Tony it was his work, his home, and his safe haven all rolled into one.

Though Fury was right about the grease thing. It wasn't the cleanest safe haven in the land. He wondered idly whether there was any of the original floor visible, or if it had been completely covered by grease and other various stains. Grease was a messy thing to begin with, but when you factored in the types of machines he worked with, plus a laboratory assistant like Dummy, there were bound to be accidents… and occasionally explosions.

Once back in his workshop, he bolted his door and brought up the video feed from the medical bay onto one of his many screens. JARVIS would call him if things started to get dicey in there. There was nothing he could do for Thor now, and he had other things to attend to.

After removing his metallic armor, his machines made to put the pieces away, but Tony stopped them using the manual override. Staring at the empty suit, he was going to pull the chestpiece out, but decided that the piece was too big and difficult to recreate. Instead, he yanked one of the gauntlets off and set it on the scanners. There had to be a way to protect the metal against magical attacks. Or if not his suit, then protect _something, _anything that could be used as a shield. And if there was a way, Tony Stark would be the one to find it.

* * *

He didn't find it. He was still sure there _was _a way, but he was no closer at the end of three days than he was at the beginning. Every combination of every element and power he could find still had no viable defense against the magic that JARVIS was reporting.

And Thor had still not woken up. He'd been doused with potions and hit with spells, but there seemed to be no effect on the thunder god. That, coupled with Tony's own lack of progress, was not helping matters or Tony's mood. But still he toiled, feeling the familiar sensation of hunger and tiredness aching dully beneath his intense focus. Those hardships, though, Tony could easily override. It was nothing he hadn't experienced before, and normal human needs took the backseat next to an all-consuming project such as this one.

It was either the end of the third day after the battle or around the beginning of the fourth – time wasn't easily measured in the workshop. But what shook Tony out of his fevered labor was a knock at the door. That right there was enough to catch his attention. No one ever knocked. Whoever wanted to see him just barged on in, regardless of locks or the 'DO NOT DISTURB THE GENIUS' signs. So he glanced up at the screen to see the visitor and saw the black-haired wizard waiting patiently outside the door.

Wiping his hands on a grease-blackened rag, he went to get the door. "Hello there, Merlin," Tony greeted him as he threw the door wide. "Come to visit the primitive wonders of electricity?" In one of Fury's brief visits, he'd mentioned the wizard's distaste for electricity. He'd said that wizards as a whole considered electric power to be a poor substitute for their infinitely superior magic. Tony would have liked to say something decidedly less polite in response to that opinion, but considering his epic failure to beat magic up until this point, he kept things light.

"I'd hardly say primitive," Harry replied, staring at the various robot parts scattered about the cavernous room. Whirs, clicks and metallic buzzings abounded, giving the space an eerie life of its own. Tony found the sounds comforting, but, as Clint was quick to point out, it tended to creep out everyone else.

"Any update on the Thor situation?" Tony said after a moment of silence. Harry shook his head. "Not really. Hermione said he twitched a finger last night, but I don't think that counts as much improvement."

Tony grunted, wondering what this boy was up to. He was simply standing in the doorway, bouncing his wand on his palm. Harry didn't seem aware of his action, but Tony became very aware of it when the tip of the wand shot out bright red sparks.

"Go set things on fire somewhere else, wizard-boy," Tony snapped, jumping away from the sparks. Harry quickly put his wand back in his pocket, "If you're just here to blow things up, I can handle that perfectly well myself, thanks." Without the distraction of his work in front of him, he was really beginning to feel the sleepless nights.

"I thought you might want some help," Harry said, ignoring his comments. He gestured to the gauntlet still resting on the table, to the metal plates scattered around it. "Your electricity is brilliant, Mr. Stark, but you're not going to be able to go up against You-Know-Who or Bellatrix with that alone."

Tony had a feeling that was coming, but that didn't make it any easier to take. He forced a horrible fake smile on his face and said, "Then what would you suggest? I don't have a wand or a scepter to work with."

He never liked feeling inferior, but this was infinitely worse, because he could never master magic the way he bent electricity to his will. It was a world that was entirely out of his grasp. He could watch other people use it, sure, and could quite easily die from it, but that was it. He'd feel better if the tables were more even, but Tony knew when he was outclassed. They'd only escaped from Bellatrix by chance. Next time they might not be so lucky.

"You don't," Harry said, walking into the workshop, "But I do."

Harry, it transpired, was more than willing to help. Tony was a little – actually, very – reluctant at first, but the boy slowly grew on him. That same ardent drive that so often fueled Tony was present in the wizard. It was nothing compared to his own, but it helped them work together. And so they did, for many long hours, trying new combinations to try to find the magic equation that blocked magical attacks on his suit without hindering the electronic core of Iron Man. Tony was very picky about this – if anything went haywire and interfered with his own personal arc reactor, that meant good-bye Tony. So they tested carefully, on one of Tony's older units. They were met with limited success – a blanket shield charm worked, but after two or three direct hits the spell failed. And Harry warned right from the start that no magic would protect against the green light of death. Moderate spells, yes, but anything that was meant for killing would do its job, shield spell or no. It was nice to have a modicum of protection on his suit, but it was a small triumph. He was much more concerned by the arc reactor itself. Regardless of the shield spell, every time Harry hit it directly with a spell, it fizzed and malfunctioned. That really really wasn't good. The complexity of the project called for both of them to be working together for many hours at a time. Harry too often let Tony know when his ego was getting in the way, and perhaps Tony was a bit too condescending with every single sentence he uttered, but they hadn't tried to kill each other yet. That was a success in Tony's book.

Two days after the alliance of wizard and tech-master, Tony was alone in the workshop, waist-deep in discarded tools. The older pieces that they had been practicing on had firmly passed into the 'junk' category, and Tony was trying to restore them enough so that they could continue. With a wrench clamped in his mouth, he was trying to take out an unidentified chunk from the gauntlet when Clint came tearing to the door. As was his habit, he just tried to push the door open, but Tony, tired of unwanted intrusions, had pushed a car in front. "Be there in a minute!" He shouted to the impatient archer. "Get here _now, _Tony!" Clint shouted right back, continuing to bang on the door.

_Sir, _JARVIS chimed, _I do believe Thor is starting to show improvement. My readings indicate he is beginning to stir._

Tony chucked the wrench at the nearest speaker where JARVIS's voice was emanating. "Thanks for the early warning, JARVIS," Tony said, hauling himself out of the metallic heap. "I'm coming!" He shouted in the general direction of the door, but then he heard a thud directly ahead of him and _bang – _Clint dropped down from the air vent.

This was hardly new, but it was the first time he'd done it in the workshop. Tony squinted at the panel in the ceiling. "That was unnecessary," He noted.

Clint for once wasn't listening. "Thor's waking up," He said, and they wasted no more time. After Tony had pushed the car out of the way, the pair headed quickly for the medical bay, finding it incredibly crowded. Every Avenger was there, including Fury. Madam Pomfrey hovered close beside Thor. Behind her stood Harry, Ron and Hermione, all their wands out.

Tony took all of that in a second, then turned his attention to Thor. The thunder god was definitely alive, but maybe not so happy about it. He was writhing in the railed bed, his mouth open in a soundless howl, his eyes still clenched shut. Tony noticed Steve hovering on the other side of the bed, ready to restrain him if he got too violent.

Then the soundless howl became very audible, as Thor roared to the high heavens and entered again into the realm of the living. His eyes opened, and his war cry faltered as he saw his audience. His hand was raised as though he was clutching Mjolnir, but luckily he had knocked Mjolnir aside in his previous convulsions. Even more luckily, the heavy hammer hadn't fallen on anyone.

Thor stared around confusedly, and everyone stared back. No one seemed to know what to say.

Thor looked down at his hands, then rubbed hard at his shoulder, at the exact point where the killing curse had hit him. Then he looked again at his audience and asked bluntly, "What happened?"

The story was quickly told, of Bellatrix, of magic, of everything. Then the questions turned to Thor, how he was, how he felt, what he remembered, etc. Tony asked a few of the questions himself, but the answers weren't to his satisfaction. Thor said he felt strange, the memories he had were fuzzy, and he was hungry. And that was it. _What a trove of information, _Tony thought sarcastically to himself.

But he was very glad that Thor was back.

He clapped Thor firmly on his shoulder as he moved aside, listening to Madam Pomfrey's description. She seemed unsettled about something, and Tony realized with a start that no one had bothered mentioning Thor's species. Oops. He should probably get around to mentioning the fact that Thor was an alien at some point.

But Madam Pomfrey still seemed pleased that her remedies had worked. "I used every antidote in the book," She was saying to Bruce. "And a few of my personal concoctions. I do think that the combination of Nightshade and lionfish spines was especially effective –"

Okay, yuck. Tony definitely didn't want to know what else was in those bottles of hers.

Harry was the one to break up the happy party, saying that he and his team had something very important to take care of, something that required the utmost haste. Tony got the distinct impression that they really shouldn't even have stayed as long as they had. After telling Tony briefly that he would be back to help as soon as he could, the trio left the medical bay and promptly disappeared.

Tony sighed and turned away from the empty doorway. "C'mon, Thunder," Tony said, "I'm sure you've had enough of your admirers for now." Thor still looked dazed, but it sort of looked like he nodded.

With Steve, they helped Thor off the bed. Walking resolutely past Fury, who was in the middle of asking a question, Tony said to Thor, "Let's go get you a bagel or something."

* * *

Heh, this was written at 3 AM in a big rush of muse, but it was still written at 3 AM. Hope it's up to snuff for you guys. And as always, please slap me if it isn't. Just lemme know if you find a derp that I made, and I'll do my best to fix it! ^^;

And we're Livin' la vida Loki next chapter! ;D


	7. Beam me up, Scotty

Many apologies for the delay – I just got my computer back from the ER… it survived, but please, dear readers, spare a moment and cross your fingers that my computer will be fine. If it dies, that means no more updates from Draconis. : ( And I don't want that to happen! Or you can hope for a Christmas miracle for a new laptop, whichever! xD

Anyways! This is a long chapter, hope you all don't mind. Though I am curious, please tell me in the reviews – do you all prefer long chapters, or short ones? I honestly have no clue which one is preferred or 'better'. xD

And as always, buckets of thank yous and cyber-hugs to all those who follow and favorite and review! It is just so absolutely wonderful to see people enjoying this!

Anyways, enough yammering from me! Enjoy!

* * *

Things were almost back to normal in the Avenger's household. Thor made a full recovery; whether it was due to Madam Pomfrey's lionfish spines or not, the God of Thunder was back to his former self. He was released from the medical bay, but there weren't many other places for him to go. The mansion was now truly a household, or a makeshift prison, depending on your point of view. Fury had given them all very specific orders - all of the team was confined to the mansion until Fury said otherwise. It was good to be a united front for whenever Voldy decided to surface; but Tony wasn't sure about the method. Keeping a bunch of volatile super-humans in an enclosed area for an extended period of time didn't seem like the best idea, but whatever. If tempers ran high, Tony didn't exactly mind the idea of going toe to toe with Thor again to let off some steam. Especially with the strengthened armor in his suit, he almost relished the challenge. His considerable self-esteem still hadn't quite recovered from their last battle – being tossed around like a doll was a humbling experience, and Tony had found that out the hard way.

So the Avengers were stuck together for the time being…. But things weren't actually all that different. Clint still crept around in the air vents, Widow kept herself locked in her room doing who-knows-what, and Thor, whenever he wasn't eating, wandered restlessly through the halls, mumbling about Jane, fretting about his brother, or swinging his hammer around in frustration. Tony kind of felt bad for the guy, who clearly wasn't taking to house arrest very well. But there wasn't much Tony could do except keep out of his way – he had a feeling it wouldn't feel nice if Thor accidentally hit him with his hammer.

Steve kept trying to convince everyone to do things as a team, or at least have dinner together _once, _but he was not being met with much success. They weren't a team like Steve wanted them to be, like things apparently were in the good old days. Tony, more or less, trusted everyone currently residing in the mansion; if it came down to it, he trusted them with his life. But that didn't translate to having warm and fuzzy bonding time. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own affairs, Tony included. The only one he spent any true time with was Bruce, but that was just because Bruce was the most tech-savvy of the lot. Everyone else he just chatted with if they ended up in the kitchen at the same time. The Avengers kept strange schedules, but Tony didn't mind it; he no longer accrued weird looks from anyone if he was sneaking snacks and coffee from the kitchen at 3 AM. There was usually at least one other person there whenever he remembered to eat, sometimes two. Clint and Widow seemed to come together, for whatever reason – but sometimes Bruce was there, carrying the same harried look that Tony often wore – the look of frustration whenever bodily needs got in the way of invention or research. Thor was just in the kitchen all the time. The god never seemed to get full.

About two weeks had passed since Thor's recovery. Fury had done nothing except check up to make sure they were all still locked up in the mansion – but Tony could sense something brewing beneath Fury's already-mad exterior. There was going to be an explosion from him, and soon. But for once, the Avengers hadn't really done anything lately to get his blood pressure up. It had be new information about this Chief Death Eater guy – Tony wasn't looking forward to hearing what Fury had found.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stopped by very briefly, once. They'd apparently tried to call, but the phone hadn't worked where they'd been traveling. What a surprise. So they'd poofed to the mansion to find a better means of communication. Short on time, Tony fashioned for them a panic button of sorts. It was a small blue oval with a button on one side. When pressed, it sent out a signal – Tony set JARVIS to keep an eye out for it. Even if magic was flying everywhere, JARVIS would still be able to pick up their general location so they could help. He hoped. There was no way to communicate verbally with it, but it was better than nothing. He was actually pretty happy with it, but the bushy-haired witch frowned and said,

"But what will you do, when we press it?" Hermione questioned. "How will you know whether it's a simple meeting versus an emergency?"

Grumbling, Tony grabbed the panic button and retreated back to his workshop. He modified it slightly – if the button was simply pressed and released, it sent out a normal signal. But if it was held down for more than five seconds, it blared loud and clear that it was an emergency.

"Here you go, smarty," He said, dropping it back in her hand. "Press it once if you just need a chat – but hold it down if Voldy's got you strung up by your underwear. We'll come round."

Hermione sniffed disdainfully and passed the button to Harry. "It wouldn't be much use to us then, would it?" Harry said with a grin. He pulled out what looked to be a furry pouch from around his neck – opening it, he dropped the panic button inside. "If he's already caught us and taunting us, I doubt your little team here will be much help."

"We'll come to watch, at any rate," Tony said with a shrug.

Harry made a funny face halfway between amusement and exasperation. "You do that," Harry said, clapping Tony on the shoulder. Tony reiterated the fact to hold it down for over five seconds, then the trio took their leave again. The wizards sure didn't seem to like hanging around much.

So other than the brief wizardly visit, things went back to Avengers-normal. Tony mainly kept to his workshop, making prototype retainers to attach to his suit in an attempt to prolong the life of the shield spell. He was trying to harness the magic in something non-electric in hopes it wouldn't dissipate so quickly. He had no idea whether it worked, and no way to test it without the boy wizard, but it was something to do. Still, without the manic drive of an important project, he responded to his growling stomach earlier than normal and went to the kitchen.

He found both Steve and Thor there, sitting at the table. Thor had cooked what looked to be an enormous omelet – Steve had a huge share on his plate, and Thor's was just ridiculously big, but there was still a lot left in the pan. If that was how Asgardians normally ate, it was a wonder they weren't all a thousand pounds heavy with pot bellies dragging behind. Tony needed to do a study at some point – to see how much Thor stuffed in his mouth on a daily basis. He had a feeling everyone would be surprised by the results.

Tony grabbed a plate and served himself a hearty portion, pouring a generous amount of coffee as well. There was always coffee around and available, regardless of time. It was probably around 2 o'clock in the morning as Tony sat down with Steve and Thor, but no one present at the table seemed to care about the late hour.

Tony listened in on the conversation as he took a long draught of coffee. It sounded like they were discussing the logistics of how that crazy woman Bellatrix had fought.

"Look, she was good enough to take on the three of us combined. She nearly killed you, in case you don't remember," Steve was saying. "Do you really think she'll go down with one swing of that hammer?"

Thor leaned forward. "If she had not reacted so quickly, I would have ended the fight with Mjolnir then and there," Thor said solidly.

"But you didn't end the fight then," Steve retorted. "And even if you got another chance, I still don't think you would win," The Captain said with a sigh.

"She is merely a mortal – a gifted mortal, but still human. She is no match for a god," Thor said dismissively. That was mighty rich coming from the one who had nearly died.

"Excuse me, god, but I didn't see anyone else being carted back on a stretcher," Tony said.

"A lucky shot, that was all. She will not be so fortunate again," Thor retorted.

Tony snorted. "Well, I'm glad you got that all worked out," Tony said. "See, to me that had seemed like a carefully planned attack that worked out exactly as she meant it to, but…" he waved his hand and disappeared behind his coffee mug again. "She's just a mortal, sayeth the god. Guess we can all stop worrying now."

Steve looked disparagingly at Tony. "Look, mortal or not, she's a threat," Steve said to the both of them. Tony grinned cheekily at Thor and took a big bite of omelet.

"What's so threatening about her," Tony said with his mouth full, "Is how fast that damn wand of hers is. We work with missiles and bullets and lightning, but she's working with magic here. Colored light that can kill or explode depending on her mood. And she _knows, _Steve, she knows just how to work us. She didn't just deflect my weapons, she made them kick up dust and smoke to hide her. And Steve, didn't you see how she only went for you when you were compromised by Thor being hit? She knew where you were the whole time and was just waiting for a weakness. And she was firing at me in a way to get me to deplete my arsenal, fast. She knew exactly what she was doing. Her plan would have worked if you'd died, Thor. Steve, you would have died too, running for Thor when you did. And I don't think I would have lasted much longer alone."

Steve and Thor just stared at him. Tony had been thinking about it for awhile, replaying the battle in his head, rewatching the few pieces that JARVIS had saved. And he was sure that this woman was as brilliant as she was insane. And that was just plain scary.

"You would be wise not to overestimate our enemies, Stark," Thor said slowly. "I did as such with the Frost Giants. They speak of plan and forethought, but they are truly creatures of brute force. It may be the truth with this woman as well. She could just have taken opportunities as they came. I saw no grand 'plan', just a battle."

"You were knocked out and forgot half of it," Tony said dismissively. "I'm not saying she's a grand mastermind, but there's _something _there."

Tony and Thor both looked at Steve. Steve fidgeted with his plate, seeming uncomfortable with the attention. "Well, I'm not sure…" He began to say, but was interrupted by a blue flash and a spark of lightning. Tony shouted as he realized that Thor had disappeared. Gone. Just like that. His chair was slightly charred and very empty.

The door to the kitchen slammed open before either Steve or Tony could do much more about it. Bruce stood in the open doorway wearing nothing but a t-shirt and boxer shorts – a handheld computer was in his hand. "I just got a flash of an energy signature that matched the Tesseract's," he said breathlessly. "It looked like it was coming from in here. What happened? Is everyone okay?"

Tony couldn't find his voice. Gaping like a fish, he pointed at Thor's chair. Bruce took one look at the overflowing plate in front of the still-smoking chair and understood. "Thor's gone," he said in resignation.

Now worry set in, settling its claws deep within Tony. He had JARVIS wake the other two members of the team and have them meet in the kitchen so everyone could try to figure out the possible implications of this. The best possible scenario was that Odin had beamed him back to Asgard, but with no Tesseract that would be a huge expenditure of energy. The worst case scenario was that Voldy had finally started unraveling the Tesseract and had taken Thor prisoner. There were probably several slightly good/kind of bad scenarios, but Tony couldn't think of any.

Black Widow had immediately contacted Fury upon hearing the news. Clint had no brilliant information to offer but had shot two arrows in the wall as a way of venting his concern.

"The signature wasn't a one hundred percent match," Bruce said to the silent and serious team. "There was something else mixed in it. I'm not sure what it is. It could be something from Odin… or something from this new guy."

Wasn't that just spectacular. But even Tony couldn't think of anything snarky to say to lighten the mood. Things were getting serious.

Fury departed for the mansion as soon as he heard the news, with the grim promise of a meeting upon his arrival. Tony stood and followed Bruce into his lab, seeking more information about the 'something else' that Bruce had mentioned was mixed with the energy signature. He examined it with Banner. It wasn't one he was familiar with, but he took comfort in the fact that it wasn't close to anything Harry's wand had given off. Then again, maybe evil magic had an energy all of its own. Tony had no idea. He really should have asked to borrow some of Harry's spellbooks last time he'd dropped by.

And thinking of the boy wizard, Tony cursed his own stupidity. Yes, the trio had a panic button in case they got into trouble. But what about the Avengers? What about when they got into a sticky mess that only magic could fix? Tony didn't think that that situation would come, and hadn't prepared for it. Maybe he just hadn't liked the idea of having a teenager bail him out. Regardless of reason, he was paying the price now for having no way of contacting the wizards. He tried calling their cell, but JARVIS informed him that, regrettably, they were not in a service area. And the panic button only activated when they needed it – Tony kept the signal from being on all the time to avoid having it wear down, So that was a bust too. So there was nothing he could do. The great Tony Stark had screwed up royally.

Well, it wasn't a cure or a fix by any means, but alcohol did tend to take the edge of off any situation. It was way past 5 o' clock anyway, so who was he to care? He left the lab and went to one of the many handy liquor cabinets strewn about the mansion. Things looked better when he had a glass filled high with amber liquid, but not by much. He grabbed the bottle for good measure and went back to the lab, where Bruce cast a disapproving eye on his bottle and tumbler.

"You're no use to me drunk," He said bluntly before turning back to the viewscreen.

"Not much use, but a lot more fun," Tony replied.

Bruce did not smile. "We have a task here, Tony. Thor could be being tortured by You-Know-Who as we speak. Is that still fun?"

Tony frowned and drained his glass, feeling the familiar burn travel down his throat. It woke him up much more than the simple coffee had. The fogginess would come later – the sharp alcohol was a wake-up call, at least for now. He wordlessly went back to the computer he'd been working on. Bruce was right. He had no right to get roaring drunk if Thor was in trouble – again. _Second time we've had to save him, _Tony thought to himself. If Thor got out of this, if he survived, he was never going to live that down.

But there was a task to do. He focused on the computer in front of him, putting up what protections he could around the mansion, trying to get any readings he could on the strange signature accompanying the Tesseract's. He worked right up until Fury arrived, which signaled both Bruce and Tony to abandon their posts and head to the kitchen where everyone else was already convened. This was not going to be a good meeting. As an afterthought, Tony grabbed the bottle from the table as he passed. He might need it after all, when all this was said and done.

Fury stormed through the halls and threw open the doors to the kitchen, a huge sheaf of papers clenched in one gloved hand. He was the absolute epitome of towering anger.

"We've got a problem," Fury growled. All of the Avengers were crowded around the small kitchen table, and everyone jumped a little as he slammed the papers down on the table. He leaned forward at the ceremonial head of the round table, giving an intense stare out of his one remaining eye.

"This 'Chief Death Eater' is our new number one problem," Fury said. "He and his band of followers have killed hundreds of us, if not thousands, and we still sat unknowing. His crimes make Loki's look like child's play."

"Releasing an army in the middle of Manhattan is child's play?" Clint questioned skeptically.

Fury knocked over the pile of papers, scattering them among the team. Tony tilted his head sideways to read one of the papers. It was a police report. Tony picked it up and flipped through it. Stapled to the back was a death certificate. Feeling sick, he quickly scanned the rest. That's what they all were. Records of crimes, of lives taken. Each and every one.

Yes," Fury said solemnly. "Yes, it is."

Clint's mouth dropped open as he picked up one of the files. Everyone started reading them as well, their expressions changing to various stages of horror as they realized what they were reading.

"Frank Bryce," Fury said to the silent room. "Bertha Jorkins. Thomas and Mary Riddle. Marlene Mckinnon. Edgar Bones. Fabian Prewett. Octavius Pepper.

"They and many others died at the hands of this wizard," Fury said. "Their deaths were attributed to gas leaks. Suicides. Tragic accidents. Normal, non-magical explanations for deaths that could not be explained."

He picked up one of the papers at random, holding it carefully between his hands. "He seeks world domination. He wants subjugation of all non-wizards, and he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Many of the people killed here were killed for nothing more than sport. Muggle killing is all the rage these days among the death eaters."

"Death Eaters," Natasha said. "You keep saying that. Who are they? Do they have some kind of advantage, protection from death?"

"The Death Eaters are You-Know-Who's followers," Fury answered her. "They're all wizards as well, but no additional protection that we know of."

"What a name," Clint said to himself.

"It's an interesting choice," Fury said, as though Clint's comment was meant for all. "Considering the fact that You-Know-Who's greatest fear is of death itself."

"It's fitting, then," Natasha said. "If half of what I've heard about this wizard is true, he'd shove all his followers in front of him to take the death blow. They'd eat death for him," She said with a shrug.

Tony decided it was time to interject. "Figuring out Moldy's nicknames for his cronies is all very well, but don't we have something more important to do – like figuring how to beat him to a pulp?"

"Or how to get Thor back," Steve said. "He's a murderer, we get that now. We need to figure out his play, his strategy. What he plans to do."

"That's a brilliant idea, Rogers," Fury said with mock enthusiasm. "How would you suggest we start?"

It turned out that Fury had little more than traces of Voldy's crimes. There was nothing solid to work with – it was difficult to work out a pattern when you were dealing with insanity, and even harder when said insane person could use magic to cover their tracks. Fury left all the papers with the Avengers as homework, promising to send whatever else he found. And the head of SHIELD was gone again, leaving a bunch of death certificates and some very stunned Avengers behind him.

Things changed slightly in the mansion. Their house arrest was not lifted, but they all now had to try to find a link, a common thread between the ridiculous amounts of death this sorcerer had caused. Tony tried with the best of them, but he knew there was nothing to find. This guy just liked killing. Sure, a few of them had probably done some great personal wrong to him, like try to be a good person or something, but he doubted they would find anything truly helpful in the files. And reading page after page of death could really wear on a person – even battle-hardened Natasha was letting some sadness show. Tony never dealt with depression particularly well, and he found himself turning ever more frequently towards his stiffest drinks.

"All right, enough," Steve said one day, as Bruce, Tony, and Steve were all seated in the kitchen with the never-ending pile of papers. "We're not going to find anything in here."

Tony's eyes were bloodshot from the reading, late hours, and the material he was being forced to slog through. "About time someone sees the light," Tony said, shoving away a report about a murdered German family.

The Captain looked burned out too. "Let's just… gather everybody together, see what we've learned. It's been two full days with us all working on it. If we don't have anything of merit, then I say we call it quits for the time being."

"Fury won't be happy with that," Bruce commented, but he took of his glasses and leaned back with a sigh, pushing the papers away from him.

"Not that you care," Tony noted.

Bruce rolled his eyes and stood, stretching and yawning. Steve stood too, asking JARVIS in his typical awkward fashion if he could please ask everyone to meet in the living room. Though of course everyone had their private wing, the second level was shared between all of them – and that included a very spacious living room. When they weren't meeting in the kitchen, that's where they usually chose to meet – overstuffed sofas were much more comfortable than the hard plastic chairs of the conference room.

Everyone arrived within minutes as opposed to days. There were a few perks to Fury's plan, and that was one of them. Fury's idea was actually turning out to be a pretty good plan. And to the Avengers credit, no one had torn the house down yet. Tony considered that quite an achievement.

"So what's this about?" Clint said grumpily from one of the sofas. He was sitting tightly next to Natasha, who had her chin resting on her hands and was looking bored.

"We just want to assess exactly how big of a waste of time this has been," Tony said.

"_No_," Steve said emphatically, with a glare in Tony's direction. "I thought it would be a good idea to see if anyone's found anything interesting."

"They would have told us if they had, Steve," Tony pointed out. Slightly pink in the face, Steve continued. "So. Has anyone found anything?"

Tony was right. They hadn't found a thing. There were a lot of indications that some of the victims were wizards themselves, but that didn't help one way or another. Nothing was really proving useful.

"Well, I think that proves its not worth our valuable time. That merits a drink," Tony said, standing and pouring himself a glass. To his surprise, Steve requested one as well, then Bruce, then Clint and Natasha as well. As he doled out the liquor, he made to take a drink from his own glass, but stopped just before as he noticed no one else had had any yet.

Steve looked awkward again, which always meant there was a speech in the making. "Guys, we've all read about hundreds of horrible deaths these past few days," He said quietly. He raised his glass. "There's nothing we can do to ease the pain or bring them back, but I think they deserve a toast in their honor."

Everyone looked at each other, then simultaneously raised their glasses, Tony included. It truly had been horrible, reading about all the innocents being murdered just because they were in the way or because it was fun to do. A toast fixed nothing, of course, but it helped ease a bit of the tightness as they all murmured their toasts and drank. It may have served no real purpose, but it had felt right to do.

Tony drained his glass and dropped it on the table. _We do have coasters, sir, _JARVIS chimed, ever the watchful butler. Tony grumbled and slipped a coaster under his glass. "Happy?" He said, making a face at one of JARVIS'S many cameras. "You can stop spying on me any time, you know."

_When you stop trying to ruin the countertops, I shall._

"Are all of your creations as snarky as you are, Stark?" Steve asked through the sudden laughter as Tony made a very rude hand gesture to the cameras.

"JARVIS wishes he was as snarky as me," Tony retorted. "He –"

_Boom._

An explosion echoed throughout the room as blue light flared from nowhere. The laughter turned to shouts as two figures materialized before them. One was blonde-haired, the other raven-black, but that was all Tony could see. Then the light dissipated, and Tony could see exactly who they were - Thor and Loki stood standing in the middle of the room.

Everyone was abruptly a whirl of action. Clint did a spit-take as soon as he beheld the form of Loki. Grabbing his bow and shouting incoherently, he went for the strategic higher position, climbing atop whatever was closest to him. Unfortunately for everyone involved, he ended up perched unsteadily on top of Natasha. Uttering a stream of curses in Russian, she adjusted her aim with her gun, somehow managing to do so with Clint still standing on her head.

Steve had his gun drawn and shield up, all business. Bruce was tight and focused, ready to become mean and green the moment things skewed toward a fight. And Tony stood there in his jeans and t-shirt, as useless as a jelly-filled gun.

Tony backed toward the door, wanting some space so JARVIS could deploy his suit. Steve cocked his gun, aiming straight for Loki. Would it really be over that fast?

"Wait!" Thor roared, spreading his arms wide and blocking the Captain's shot with his own body. "It is not what you think!"

"Then explain fast, Thor," Steve said, his eyes still trained on Loki.

"We come here in truce," Thor said, still blocking Loki. Tony could hardly see the black-haired god, skulking as he was behind the much-larger Thor.

"Loki was not responsible for the Tesseract's disappearance," Thor said, his hands still raised and empty. Mjolnir was resting by his feet.

"We know that. That's fine. He's still done enough for us to want to kill him," Tony said, though the side of him more focused on self-preservation whispered this might not be the best time to speak out.

Thor hardly spared him a glance. "He believes he has information that can help us," he continued.

"And what's turned him into a stool pigeon?" Steve queried, still locked in his ready-to-kill mode.

Loki suddenly shouldered past his brother, to many shouts and waving of guns. He was garbed not in his normal over-the-top leather and knives, but in a simple all-black outfit. And, wrapped tightly around his wrists, were two huge shackles. These had to be the magic-repellant handcuffs Thor had told him about way back when, when Loki had first escaped. They certainly looked effective, big and metal with important-looking runes scrawled all over them. Then Loki spoke, his voice a harsh sneer,

"Do not think I've turned kind towards you, _Avengers," _He spat the name. "Should I have had my way, I would have nothing to do with you, save to kill you. However –"

"You're really not selling your case here, Liesmith," Steve said, his weapon pointing again at Loki's face. Loki grinned at the captain, a singularly mirthless smile. He continued as though uninterrupted.

"However, this sorcerer, with his primitive magic, may bring about the end of the earth with his tampering of the Tesseract. He does not know its true power, and does not treat it as he should. Such experiments, left unchecked, may prove disastrous. I do not wish to rule a dead planet."

Again with the ruling of the world crap. Who did these villains think they were? "Do you not listen?" Tony said to Loki. "There is still no throne for you to ascend to, buddy. Trying a second time won't change that."

Steve shot him a look that clearly told him to shut up, but Tony had to admit he was a little curious about the whole thing. What did Loki hope to gain from becoming all powerful ruler of the world, aside from bragging rights? No one was going to listen to him, everyone was going to hate him. God or not, he'd be lynched somehow. Why was ruler of the world such a coveted title?

Loki turned his smile onto Tony. "There is always a throne," He said. Tony crossed his arms, thoroughly unimpressed. He thought he saw a flicker in Loki's face, a slight change, before the god of lies turned away. Tony had a feeling it was significant somehow, but had no idea what it meant.

"My father gave a very clear order," Thor said, still speaking much too loud for the relatively small company. "If he means to help, then help he shall. He is to be watched by Heimdall at all times. Any trickery on his part will be met with swift death."

"Thor, you need to get over this brotherly love thing. Did you not hear that whole 'ruling the world' bit?" Tony said incredulously. "Why would you think the God of Lies is telling you the truth, ever?"

"My lies would have no power if I did not sometimes tell the truth," Loki answered smoothly. "No one would believe my falsehoods if they were not surrounded by honesty."

Silence. He actually had a point there.

At a loss for what to say,Tony studied the god. He looked different than they had last seen him. The hairstylists at Asgard had given him a haircut, cutting away the strange spiky do he'd had upon their last visit. His hair was shorter now, smoothed behind his ears. His clothes, though plain, looked finely made. All and all, he did not fit the look of what a war prisoner ought to look like. But more than that, the deep, sick-looking circles beneath his eyes that had been Loki's trademark through the battle had disappeared – he looked scores healthier than he had, and that just wasn't any kind of fair.

"If you do not trust his word, then trust mine," Thor said. "We share a common enemy. No one in this room wishes to see Earth destroyed. It would be to our detriment if we did not use every weapon available in our arsenal."

Tony wondered what snake-tongued lies Loki had fed him to get Thor like this. "Heimdall is watching," Thor continued, though he almost sounded like he was reading a proclamation now. "There will be no attempt at subterfuge. Loki shall help us until this enemy is defeated… if he does not, his own life will be the price."

Loki remained silent and stoic throughout this, though Tony thought he saw the barest hint of a grin. Tony didn't trust him, of that much he was sure. He wasn't really sure about anything else at this point, though.

"So, what are you asking us?" Bruce finally asked. "If we're okay with working with _him?" _There was definitely a grin on Bruce's face. The other guy was probably slavering in anticipation of clobbering the god again.

"In short, yes."

Silence again. Tony took another small step toward the door, but stopped when Loki glanced back at him. He waited until the god looked away, then leaned back, not even taking a step. Loki glanced up and away at him again. Odd that Loki was keeping tabs on _him, _the weakest of the lot at this moment. Now why would that –

His train of thought was interrupted by Clint. "Why has no one shot him yet?!" The archer screamed suddenly, and shot at Loki's eye.

Loki caught it an inch before it impaled him, and Natasha wrenched the bow away from Clint before he could make the arrow explode. Even with the cumbersome shackles, Loki managed to daintily snap the arrow in two. He dropped the halves and looked disparagingly at Clint, saying quite clearly, _Was that the best that you can do?_

"Well, this is a great start to an alliance," Tony said to the room at large as Natasha restrained Clint, while Thor moved in front of Loki. Clint shouted half-strangled threats and insults while Loki just grinned. Tony stepped out of the room, activating his suit just in case things got hairy in there.

He had no idea how things were going to turn out, but he was sure of one thing: it sure as hell wasn't going to be boring anymore.

* * *

Yay! So Loki is introduced (albeit rather anticlimactically) so finally everything is ready! All the characters are in and everything is set… now things are gonna get fuuuuuun.

Hope you all enjoyed! More to come soon :3


	8. One Alliance was enough!

Sorry about the wait... again. Just got my computer back a few days ago. Please hope for a Christmas Miracle that my computer will live a long time... please?

Also... I really need to name my chapters, but I have absolutely zero ideas on what to name them. Any ideas? Shout them out in the reviews! Please help me here, because seeing just 'chapter' after chapter is so incredibly boring... -_- /is very uncreative with names

As always, Many thanks and cyber hugs to my reviewers and followers and favoriters - I'm writing this for you guys :)

Hope you like!

* * *

After everyone was either calmed down or restrained, and Tony was much more of a threat in his suit, everything was quickly explained. Thor spoke in his typical overformal terms, but Tony was able to translate it into normal non-Shakespearean dialogue. In a nutshell, Loki had been flitting just under Odin's radar back on Asgard, tantalizingly close, but never quite close enough for the Allfather to catch him. So he'd called up his favorite son to give it a shot.

Naturally, everyone questioned how Odin was able to beam Thor back up without the Tesseract. Apparently when the Tesseract had been sent back to Asgard, Odin had used it to restore power to ancient relics, weapons and artifacts he'd drained of power to send Thor to earth the first time. He'd returned them to their former glory – but now they were dark and dead again, drained of the power they'd so recently gotten. The energy was stripped from them to use for teleportation. Still, it was a price the Asgardians were willing to pay if it saved earth. But Odin had made one thing very clear – he was not weak, or so he said. And he had more than enough energy to bring Loki back and kill him if the situation called.

While everyone was debating about the finer details of the energy Thor was talking about, Tony was considering the first part of the conversation. Loki could evade Odin Allfather, but he couldn't escape from Thor, the misguided, overtrusting oaf? Something wasn't right there. Why had Loki been okay with being captured _again? _

Captured. That was the key. Thor had captured him. If it had been Odin or one of his guards, the fate could have been much, much worse for Loki. Regardless of what happened, Tony was sure Thor still loved Loki, still considered him his brother. And Thor was not going to kill him.

So Loki had danced at the edges of Odin's defenses, never within reach, just close enough to enrage Odin – enrage him enough to call in backup, as Loki had known he would. And he allowed himself to be captured by the one person he knew would not kill him. And with the 'brother' he hated at his side, he used his gilded snake's tongue to work his way out of trouble – and not only that, but twist the situation in his favor, claiming his skill as a sorcerer to help with the grievous problem upon Midgard. Odin would have had no choice.

Of course, Tony thought, he could be completely wrong about it all, but he doubted it. It made sense – make the best of an unfavorable situation, twist an enemy into an ally. Get back on the planet you want to rule by any means possible.

It would be what Tony would do.

"He's still the enemy, Thor," Steve snapped, intruding on Tony's mental meanderings. His gun had not wavered.

"What I'm more concerned about is how he managed to get out of his cell," Natasha said. "You say he can't use magic, but he must have done _something _big and bad to escape."

Everyone started talking at once again. Tony used his speaker to elevate his voice over the din. "Hey, Reindeer games. If you're going to work with us, you better tell us how you got out of that cell. We need to know how to lock you up properly."

Loki looked at him disdainfully. "That's hardly incentive for me to spill my secrets, Mr. Stark."

Tony shrugged.

Bruce sighed, fidgeting with his glasses. "If half of what Thor says is true, he could be useful," He said slowly. "If he can't use magic, he's not a threat to us."

"Easy for you to say," Clint growled. "You're not the one who had their soul sucked out through that demonic scepter." He started to reach for his bow, which Natasha held clenched in her hands. She whacked him over the head with it and kept it far out of his reach. "You'll blow us all up, not just him," She reminded the angry archer. He growled incoherently under his breath, one hand still reaching for the bow.

"We know you don't like him, Clint. Calm down." Tony said, trying to stave off another attack. But regardless of anything that he said, Tony didn't like him either. Seeing Loki's bloodthirsty smile brought to mind a stain – a bloodstain splattered across the wall of the helicarrier, the red drops signifying the end of a life. Phil Coulson had brought the Avengers together – it was because of him that they'd gotten their asses in gear and knocked Loki onto his leathery butt. And it was Loki's fault that Phil hadn't been around to see it all unfold, to see the Avengers together as a team, as they were meant to be.

And Tony would never forgive Steve for not signing the damn cards.

But, despite all that, maybe Loki _could _be useful. They sure weren't making any progress on their own, and if Loki truly wanted to preserve the planet he would someday be king of, then maybe they should take advantage of that. Besides, Loki had come to _them, _instead of trying to work on his own. Maybe he was right – that the Avengers wouldn't be able to do it on their own – and neither could he. United we stand, divided we fall and all that. And what was the cliché again? 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend?' He'd never apply the word 'friend' to Loki, but the meaning still rang true.

That helped Tony make his decision. Turning his speaker on loud again, Tony cut over the chatter. "We're not going to get anywhere arguing all night."

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Steve asked, breaking off from a heated discussion with Thor.

"Of course I do." He flashed an infuriating grin that no one saw. "Let's put it to a vote. Who wants Bag of Cats to stay on as magical consultant?"

It wasn't a great idea, but it would serve its purpose – to see how divided the Avengers were on this issue.

Bruce raised his hand almost immediately. Steve still hadn't lowered his gun, so Tony counted that as a half point. Clint frowned even more deeply, his eyes darting between Loki and his stolen bow, clearly still trying to figure out how to get a shot in. He was definitely a 'no.'

Natasha cast a glance at Clint, then slowly raised her hand as well.

"So that's… two and a half points," Tony said. Thor had raised his hand as well, but he was so incredibly biased on this issue that Tony had ignored him.

"And who wants him to get the **** out and go burn in hell?"

Clint raised both hands immediately.

"That's hardly a threat," Loki said disdainfully. He'd retreated from the main circle, instead watching impassively from the corner.

"It's true," Thor said, speaking as though Tony had actually been serious. "He has… connections with the underworld."

Huh. So Loki had dealings with the devil, too. Tony would have been off-put by the news that there _was_ a devil at all – learning that there not only was one, but that Loki had dealings with him… that was not welcome news. Clint looked about ready to pop.

"Okay, fine," Tony said, exasperated. "We'll give Clint his bow and let him loose. That threatening enough for you, trickster?"

Loki chuckled. "It's a start, at least," he said, giving Clint a challenging grin. Natasha grabbed Clint's arm as a precautionary measure as Clint shouted incoherently at the god, once more lunging forward. He really hadn't gotten over the whole soul-sucking thing.

Bruce cleared his throat, trying to attract everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. "So, the vote?"

Clint raised both his hands again. Arms crossed, Bruce and Natasha both looked at Steve.

The Captain stared at Loki for a long moment before glancing back at Clint. He then looked down at the ground, deliberating, fidgeting with the safety on his gun. Then, with a mighty sigh, he braced himself and lowered both the gun and his arm, casting his vote.

"Are you all _insane?" _Clint spat. "You want to work with that - that…." He seemed at a loss for words. Starting over, he spluttered, "You want to work with _that?"_ He gestured wildly at the god.

Tony was surprised at the way things had gone – he'd withheld his vote, but if he'd had to, he would have voted for Loki to stay. For all his mighty failings, he could prove valuable. And this man Voldy was just too big a threat to mess with. And if that meant working with a shackled super villain, then so be it.

Clint cursed in what seemed to be every language known to man, then stomped out of the room. Everyone could hear the scraping of a grate being moved, then a metallic thud.

Back in the air vents. Well, if it calmed him down, Tony wasn't going to complain.

"You best not try anything, trickster," Steve said bluntly.

Loki grinned. "You have my word."

"Uh huh. Sure we do," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "Because a promise made by the god of lies can clearly never be broken."

Natasha and Steve both glared at Tony, clearly telling him to shut up. Loki chuckled. "You joke easily about serious matters, Man of Iron," Loki observed, turning his gaze upon Tony. "You doubt my promise?"

"I don't put much stock in anything coming from someone known as Loki Liesmith," Tony retorted.

Loki nodded thoughtfully. "An understandable decision," He said. "However, there is always truth woven in falsehood. You all would do well to remember that."

Captain America stood up. "So you tell the truth sometimes, we get it. Listen up – so long as you're here, consider yourself our prisoner. You help us with fighting this Dark Lord however you can. Any funny business from you, we'll save Odin a lot of energy and kill you ourselves. You understand?"

Loki was still wearing that same, creepy-ass grin. Tony had a deep urge to blast it off his face, but decided that probably wasn't the best way to start of an alliance.

"Understood," Loki finally said.

And so began the second alliance of the Avengers. It had been bad enough teaming up with the boy wizard and all his unknown magics, but working with Loki was sure to push his patience – and his temper – to the limit. Still, maybe he could be useful. If they ever went up against the Moldy, he could be quite helpful as a shield. Once.

Even more unfortunately for Tony, he got the first shift with the god of lies. Loki followed as he was leaving the room, questioning how well his suit held up against magical attacks. _As if the bastard doesn't know, _Tony thought irritably. When he answered curtly, Loki said, "I believe magic is _my _area of expertise, not yours."

"Go gloat about your powers to someone else," Tony retorted. "Shouldn't you be helping find Voldy or something?" Tony paused, then added, "You know what, never mind. Keep on pestering me. I'm more than willing to carry out the Captain's threat."

Loki said nothing, just continued walking down the hallway. Tony frowned, wondering where he was going, then hurriedly followed as the god turned, heading towards Tony's workshop.

How the _hell _did he know where his workshop was? He ran to find Loki inside his workshop, the door open and unlocked. The god was holding one of his spare gauntlets and was examining it closely.

"I don't believe you have an invitation," Tony said, snatching the gauntlet away. "No murderers allowed, sorry. Kindly get the hell out?"

"You're rather reluctant to accept help," Loki noted, turning away and picking up the second gauntlet before Tony could slap his hand away.

"And _you _need to get your hands off my stuff," Tony said. He raised his hand, making the threat clear. He had no qualms about blasting Loki around a little. One arc reactor blast wasn't going to kill him. Probably.

"Do calm down, Stark," Loki said. He'd taken one look at him, then immediately returned his gaze to the gauntlet in his hand. "Or I shan't help you."

"You're not helping," Tony said. "Get. The. Hell. Out."

Loki finally put the gauntlet down, turning to face Tony. "I may be 'the bad guy', to use your jargon," Loki said, "but there is more behind your anger, Stark. What is your quarrel with me?"

Tony stared. He had to be kidding. "Let's see." Tony raised his gauntleted hand and started counting off. "You murdered Phil Coulson, blew up Manhattan, possessed Clint, stole an eyeball off a scientist, and killed a bunch of people because it was fun. That enough for you, or do you want me to continue?"

"Enough, I think." Loki crossed his arms, looking pensive. "Quite enough."

"Glad I convinced you," Tony said. "Now please, if you would." He gestured towards the door.

Loki didn't move. "You may regret refusing my help," He said. Tony snorted. "I'll take my chances," He said. If he took any longer, Tony was going to drop-kick the stubborn god through the door.

Loki was still stationary. Watching Tony closely (for what? Any reactions were hidden by his mask) he asked, "A question, Stark. What makes you say I killed Agent Coulson?"

"The giant bloodstain was a pretty good clue." Tony didn't like this, discussing Coulson's death with his murderer. He readied his second gauntlet beam. He was going to blast him, just for that. No one would hold it against him, he was sure.

Loki grinned. "And Fury's word, I'm sure."

Tony paused, wondering why Loki had thrown that in. Still grinning in that creepy-ass way, he uncrossed his arms, he headed towards the door. "Oh, Stark," He whispered as he passed, "Do you _truly _believe everything Fury tells you?" And then he was gone, the door shut and locked behind him.

Tony stared blankly at where the god had been. What had that all been about?

_Just Loki being Loki, _Tony told himself, shaking his head and returning the gauntlets to their former places. _Trying to get in our heads and mess us up from the inside._

Still… there had been no funeral for Phil Coulson. No one on the team had ever seen a body. Thor had seen him grievously injured, but not dead.

But Loki had stabbed him. That much was very, very clear. And why would he stab him and _not _kill him? Even by crazy super villain standards, that made no sense.

Loki killed him, Tony told himself firmly. He was just trying to mess with Tony's head – and he was furious with himself for letting it go this far, for considering even for a second the implications of his words.

"Sadistic bastard," Tony muttered to himself, returning to his magic-holding retainers. Let someone else deal with the god, Tony thought to himself. He had better things to do.

* * *

Twistyguru, I hope you don't mind me stealing your awesome line to use for Loki. I'll use it for Ron too, I promise! (Ron is going to be in this fic about on par with how you described him. X3)

Anyways, it must be said - buckle up, folks. Canon-wise, it's going to be a bumpy ride from here on out, both with Avengers and Harry Potter. I'll keep what I can, but I'm going to change some things. Hopefully you guys won't mind too much!

Next chapter will be up as soon as I can. And, spoilers - action ahead! Major action! Been looking forward to it this whole fic, so stay tuned xDD

Thanks to all readers as always, and Happy Holidays!


	9. Questions and Doubt

A belated happy new year, everyone!

Ah, this fanfic never goes where I expect it to, as this chapter indicates... I had such a clear idea with what I wanted to write, then I blinked, it was two hours later and I had this chapter on my desktop. :/ Totally not what I had in mind. Muse is weird. Still, it's incredibly fun to write, I hope it's as fun for you to read :)

As always, many MANY thank yous and cookies to my wonderful readers! They're chocolate chip this time, hope you like 'em ;)

Enjoy!

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It took some getting used to, having the arch nemesis of the Avengers living under their roof. Not pleased with the idea of Loki bunking on the couch, Tony walled off the bottom level of the mansion, designating it as the madman's cage. Locked down and closed off whenever Tony felt like doing so. It turned out, though, that all the extra precautions weren't necessary. When Loki wasn't 'helping', for lack of a better word, he mainly sulked around on his level anyway. Tony watched the security cameras more than was strictly necessary, but the god didn't seem to be in the mood to shake things up. Mostly he sat and just stared into space, a vacant – but still creepy – grin on his face. Whatever he was up to, it was going on behind the eyes. And Tony didn't have a machine to read minds to help figure it all out.

Yet.

There were, though, a few disturbing instances where Loki simply… disappeared. After locking him away on his level, Tony would peruse the security feeds and find him nowhere. The second time this happened, he alerted the rest of the team, but no one was really keen on heading down to the lair to check. So they searched with every camera, to no avail. Then, boom, he'd suddenly be there, sitting on a couch or chair like he'd never moved. Any questioning on that subject – even when coupled with death threats from Clint – were met with stony silence. It was worrisome, certainly, but Thor remained steadfast in the fact that Heimdall would be watching carefully, seeing what puny human cameras could not. Thor intoned solemnly that if Loki was still here on earth, then he must not be getting into any trouble.

Amazing how sure Thor seemed about the whole thing. Tony knew he probably should put more stock into the god's power, but they'd let Loki escape once, hadn't they? Tony wished he could beam a cellphone up to this Heimdall, too, so he could quit the babysitter duty and let the all-seeing guy handle it. It'd be so much easier – the god could just give Tony a call when Loki was making mischief. Save a lot of his time, too - he had better things to do than watch cameras all day. His thoughts often turned to inter-universe cellular devices whenever the trickster annoyed him.

Although, much to Tony's chagrin and bewilderment, the god was proving useful. When not confounding the Avengers with his disappearing act or staring at walls, he was with Bruce in the makeshift Voldy-tracking room, or with Tony in his workshop.

And he was _helping._

Where was that coming from?

After their initial encounter in the workshop, Tony thought the god would get a clue and leave him the hell alone. But, despite the clear 'never come here again' message that he'd thought he'd sent, Loki appeared the next day, waiting patiently by the triple-latched door and asking – _politely _– to come in.

So of course Tony ignored him. Loki left after a time, and Tony found out afterwards that he'd gone to Bruce instead, who welcomed the mad god into his lab. And, a stunned Bruce told him later, had actually contributed some suggestions about how to better track the readings off of Voldy's wand.

This didn't make sense. What, had the whole evil gig gotten old? Was putting on a halo and helping out your enemies more fun now? Tony had no answers for the god's behavior. Yes, this Voldy guy was big, bad, and scary. They'd all covered that. But scary enough to have a deranged madman call it quits and join the good side? No way. There was something going on under the surface, there had to be. Tony just… didn't know what it was yet.

But Tony decided to polish his halo as well, and grudgingly allowed the god access when he appeared again the next day. He still couldn't use magic, he still didn't have access to anything useful or potentially incriminating, and he could still get blasted with arc reactors if he acted up. So Tony figured he didn't have much to lose.

What he didn't expect was for it to be so mentally exhausting. Loki was willing to help, or so he said, but he seemed rather unwilling to divulge his information. Tony's halo didn't last long – he promptly told the god to stick his information up his ass. Unfazed, Loki said he was willing to trade – information for information, secrets for secrets. He had much to give, he said, but only if he received as much in return.

So Tony was forced into a war of words with the beguiling trickster. Extorting what truth he could, trying to figure out if there was any truth at all in his words, and above all, not giving the god anything of worth in return.

He wouldn't have tried so hard, but unfortunately for Tony's pride, it was actually worth it. Loki had some good information to give. His first suggestion that Tony wormed out of him was for a modification to his suit – to help keep Harry's shield spell effective longer. Something about changing the flow of energy so it didn't interfere with the magic as much. How he knew about Harry or the shield spells, Tony didn't know, and that right off made him nervous. Leery, Tony tested it exhaustively before even thinking of trying it on, but he came up with nothing. JARVIS – grudgingly – said that the modification had done nothing but improve the system's performance.

Wasn't that just great. So now he had to put up with the devilish little prick. After reiterating the threats that had already been repeated a hundred times before, Tony agreed to play his little game.

The questions Loki asked of him, though, weren't of the nature Tony was expecting. He didn't question about SHIELD or the inner workings of the Avengers – though maybe he thought those would be too obvious. He didn't even question about Tony's arc reactor. No, instead, the god wanted to get personal – he asked about the Avenger's pasts.

Tony assumed Loki was looking for dirty secrets, weaknesses and failures that he could use to hurt them later, as he had supposedly done to Natasha. Why Loki thought Tony would willingly give him a weapon like that, Tony had no idea. But Tony gave as good as he got – whenever he thought Loki was lying, or just whenever he felt like it, he lied as well, giving a whole host of juicy stories with no merit whatsoever. Loki's expression never changed, but Tony was looking forward to the day when Loki tried to torture Bruce with information about his long lost sister.

With hours upon hours passing without end, Tony found himself almost getting used to the routine. It was an extremely uneasy alliance, but it did help pass the time. It had already been four days since Loki had first appeared – Tony honestly hadn't expected him to survive that long. But more than that, Tony never thought he'd be able to leave his back exposed when he knew the god was behind him. Not for the first time, he wondered where all this trust was coming from.

Loki did leave now and again, but it was clear he liked annoying Tony the best. After a brief reprieve, Loki slipped back into the workshop when Tony was returning from a food-and-scotch break. Tony ignored the god, going back to viewscreen and working in silence for a few minutes. When Loki didn't speak, Tony sighed and said, "So what'll it be today, trickster? More childhood memories from me? I'm sure that'll give you all the hidden secrets you're looking for."

"Your turn, I think," Loki said from his perch on the desk. He was holding a piece of scrap metal in his hands, and was currently testing its durability, twisting it in ways no human could ever have done. Those shackles didn't hamper his strength any.

"My turn? I'm flattered," Tony said. "Let's see… let's get right to the point. What are you after, Loki? What's all this sainthood about? A new arc reactor? A new army of slaves? I'm honestly curious," Tony said, finishing with the line Loki often used in his interrogations.

"I'm not interested in your trinkets," Loki said flatly. "I've told you that before."

"Yet you're mighty interested in improving them," Tony noted.

"If that is what it takes to bring down the sorcerer, so be it. It means nothing - There's no place for your primitive work in the world of magic. I've no interest in your electronic playthings."

Tony opened his mouth to say something very naughty, but thought better of it. "Fine." Loki was scowling now, and he knew there'd be no point pursuing the point for now. "Since that wasn't an answer in any sense of the word, I'll go again."

Loki went back to wrecking the metal in his hands. "Proceed."

Tony thought of one thing, something that had been burning at him against his will since Loki had first showed up. With no pretense, he said, "What did you mean, when you talked about Coulson?"

"Exactly what I said."

Tony frowned. "Then explain what you said."

"Ooh, that will cost you, Stark," Loki said, leaning back. "That's quite a big order."

Unimpressed with the theatrics, Tony waited for the inevitable request in return. Putting down the metal, Loki finally said, "I think I may have to hear about this Obadiah Stane character before we go any further."

Another dig in the old troubled childhood. What a surprise. Still, for all his questioning, this one was fairly mild. Yes, it was painful what had happened with Stane. Very painful. Shattering in many ways. But if Loki ever tried to turn it on him, Tony was confident he would keep his cool. He had survived it, seen Stane for what he actually was, and moved on. No matter what Loki said, he wasn't going to change that.

Still, he hoped nothing leaked out in the carefully neutral tone he adopted as he explained Stane's betrayal. He kept it honest, hoping for an honest answer in return.

Loki listened while Tony dictated everything in a monotone. When he was finished, Loki looked pensive for a moment, then said, "You really should have seen that coming."

"Normal people don't expect family members to try to kill them," Tony reminded the god. "That's just your problem. It's called trust," Tony said shortly. "Trusting your friends not to stab you in the back. I don't think you're well acquainted with that particular trait, liarboy."

"I am 'well acquainted' with trust, actually," Loki said. "Acquainted enough to realize its stupidity." He stood, his face still a fierce scowl from Tony's little family jab. "You yourself are a prime example. You trusted this man with your life, and look where it got you."

"A member of the Avengers and more fame than I know what to do with. Doesn't sound like it backfired much." He knew that wasn't what the god meant, but he'd played along enough. "I told you about Stane. Hearing snarky commentary wasn't part of the deal. What really happened with Coulson?"

Loki's snarl melded into a grin. That was not a good omen. Watching Tony carefully, Loki said, "I did not kill Agent Coulson, Stark."

"You're going to have to lie better than that, Loki," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "Thor saw you."

Loki didn't seem surprised by Tony's reaction. "Tell me – what did I stand to gain if I had killed Coulson that day?"

"The fun of killing a good man?"

"Always enjoyable, but not worth it in this instance," Loki said. "He was not only good, he was _knowledgeable. _Fury's right hand man, so close, so… unprotected. I fully intended to bring him to my side, to use him as I used Clint. But he was just so _righteous," _Loki said in disgust, shaking his head. "It irked me. So I left him a painful reminder of my power. Not fatal, but painful." The bloodthirsty grin on his face now was just sickening. "I fully intended upon returning later. But then came the brilliant move by your commander. I never expected Fury to find him more useful in 'death' – it was truly my undoing, wasn't it? If it hadn't been for Coulson's supposed heroic sacrifice, you all would still be arguing and gibbering while the world fell at my feet."

"Rather high opinion of yourself," Tony muttered, but internally his mind was racing. What Loki said checked out, according to mad-villain logic. But still – it couldn't be true. Would Fury really go that far, have Coulson feign death to get the Avengers moving?

Wait. This was _Nick Fury_. Of course he would.

"Ask Fury, at the next of your little meetings," Loki interjected quietly. "Watch him. His face will tell you the truth." And he grinned, delighted with how compromised he'd managed to make Tony. Causing confusion and uncertainty seemed to be his number one hobby.

Tony hated himself for hoping again. Suddenly infuriated, Tony picked up a wrench and hurled it at the god. Loki caught it easily, and Tony tried to calm himself before he threw another.

"Channeling our dear archer, are we, Stark?" Loki said, still fiendishly amused.

"Enough with the games, liesmith. Either make yourself useful or get the hell out." Usually their little give-take information game continued as long as they worked, but Tony had had enough. Loki could cause one thing while wrapped up with the Avengers – dissention in the ranks. And if he kept listening to that snake-tongued bastard, it was definitely going to happen. And they didn't need any more problems right now.

But he was going to ask Fury on his next visit. Just in case.

* * *

Loki took the hint and made himself scarce for awhile, but Tony had barely begun enjoying the Loki-free hours when the god showed up again. Things began again as they were before the whole Coulson incident, which suited Tony just fine – he got Loki to explain a bit more about the overall nature of magic, which was considerably helpful. Annoying that he had to wheedle it out of the god, but helpful all the same.

After working for over a day on end with little food and absolutely no sleep, Tony finally had to call it quits. Ignoring the taunts from Loki, he kicked the god out and locked the door securely, keen on getting maybe a few hours rest before returning to the grind. Magic-proofing his suit – or proofing _anything, _for that matter, was causing his obsessive work ethic again. Not that he minded – it got things done.

Before passing out, he stopped in the kitchen so his stomach would shut up. Of course, he was not alone there – Bruce and Thor were at the table, eating… crepes? Tony wasn't sure, but there were none left in the pan regardless. Grabbing bread from the counter, he dropped two slices into the toaster, avoiding the side with two deep dents from when Clint had had a temper tantrum. As he waited impatiently for the bread to toast, he glanced around the room. The kitchen bore distinct signs that supernatural – or at the very least strange – people lived within it. The arrow dents in the toaster, for one – but also the dent in the fridge, which was from when Thor accidentally stumbled into it. There were also pottery chips imbedded into the floor, courtesy of the thunder god. He had some trouble breaking the habit of _not _breaking mugs when he liked a drink. The habit particularly annoyed Natasha, who, on one memorable morning, had flung her own mug at his head after he'd smashed yet another glass. His bewildered reaction was blackmail fodder for years to come. And then there was the scorch mark on the back of the bar… that one was Tony's fault, and he now solidly adhered to the rule 'no shooting in the suit while drunk.'

And then of course there was the rickety wooden table, missing an irregular chunk from the side of it when Steve had slipped, grabbed the table for support, and accidentally ripped it apart instead. Tony could have replaced the table, of course, but had decided to keep it in a rare fit of posterity. It was also nice to have a physical reminder of what had been a hilarious event. Steve didn't deal with embarrassment well.

An annoying beeping intruded on Tony's reminiscing. "Turn your phone off, Bruce," Tony said, closing his eyes as the noise made his headache worse.

"S'not me," Bruce said through a mouthful of crepe.

"But –" Tony began, but broke off as the beeping suddenly increased, in both tempo and volume. He suddenly realized what it was. Tony swore foully, tearing out of the kitchen and going to the first computer he could find. It was Harry's tracker, all right, activated and beeping up a fury. He'd held it down much longer than 5 seconds – this was a serious emergency.

"Of course they would get in trouble _now_," Tony muttered to himself, sounding the alarm and running back to inform Bruce and Thor. "Couldn't be when I'm well rested and fed. No, let's send him in starved and drunk with exhaustion. Great idea."

Once everyone was gathered, he realized they were one short. "Grab your brother, Thor," Tony said tersely. Thor disappeared immediately before anyone could disagree. "Clint?" Tony said as he passed the archer, "If you see a green light coming toward you, shove Loki in front, okay? Okay."

The ship took off in record time, with Natasha and Clint piloting. Steve roughly shoved Loki under a seat when Fury came on screen to find out what the hell was going on.

So Harry and company had probably gone toe to toe with Voldy and needed backup. Though they'd all known this was coming, to Tony they felt woefully unprepared. He glanced at Loki, stuffed unceremoniously beneath the chairs, and grinned. Served him right – finally, he was kneeling down to the rest of them.

Despite enjoying Loki's predicament, however, he found himself hoping that Loki's improvements would actually be of some use. Even with those, though, he had limited protection, no more. One well-aimed green laser, and that would be Tony's curtain call. It was a daunting prospect, and – though he would never say it aloud – a terrifying one. He never thought a stick of wood could be such a deadly weapon.

But they'd survived it once – sort of. They could do it again.

He hoped.

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed, action next chapter yaaaay. And more canon-smashing, but ah well. It's fun canon-smashing, so hopefully that'll count for something xD

This also was not majorly proofread, (product of 4 AM writing... again) so if you guys find any derps let me know please? :3

And Leonais, I really like 'unlikely alliances' - when it's not 4 AM I'll put it up. Thanks a lot! As I said before, I'm so uncreative with names it's just sad xDDDD


	10. Time to Attack

Ugh ugh ugh so pathetic. Sorry for the late update, everyone. RL gets in the way so much... I really don't mean to be such a pathetic updater. .

Anyhoo, despite the lateness, this was uber-fun to write. I also used the book for this one, so don't be surprised if you recognize some lines, I thought it added some realism to the story ^^;

Thank you as always to my reviews and followers and favoriters! You guys are and always will be awesome :)

Enjoy!

* * *

After Fury signed off, and Loki was reluctantly let up from under the chairs, it was a quiet ride. Tony kept his eye on JARVIS's magic scanner – he knew they were almost there when JARVIS reported something that most closely resembled a bubble of liquid energy.

Not a great sign.

They stopped just before the barrier. Luckily for them all, this barrier was physical as well as magical, so they could see it and stop before tripping any voodoo warnings like last time.

The barrier was in the form of a wrought-iron gate, winding around a wide property with an over-the-top manor set in the middle. The manor was where Harry's signal was coming from. Of course.

Tony disembarked with the rest of them, feeling his exhaustion with every step. He was good at ignoring discomfort, but this was pushing it, even for him. That wasn't the worst, though – Loki knew just how burned-out he was. He really really hoped the god of lies wasn't about to try to take advantage of that. Then again, Tony thought, grinning behind his mask, if he did, Tony knew he'd have permission to kill him then. That almost made the exhaustion worth it.

Almost.

The motley group of superheroes stopped in front of the gates, and Tony fell back with the rest of them as the front of the gate suddenly formed into a nightmarish face, which demanded in a booming, clanging voice, "State your purpose!"

"I don't think so," Tony said, lifting his hands to blast the gate, but Thor beat him to it. Giving a wild battle cry, he raised his hammer. Lightning lanced down from the sky and surrounded the now-glowing Mjolnir. Still roaring incoherently, he brought his hammer down onto the gated face.

Tony lowered his gauntlets and watched as the lightning destroyed whatever magic was lurking within the gate. The metal face disintegrated, and Thor pushed the burned gates open. Seeming supremely unimpressed with his little stunt, Thor hefted Mjolnir and said shortly, "We may enter."  
"Show-off," Tony muttered.

Even though Thor had clearly fried whatever magic was in gate, he felt horribly exposed as they crept toward the manor. Thor was a glittering beacon in his Asgardian armor, as was Captain America with his spangle. He knew that his red-and-gold getup wasn't exactly subtle, either. He could only hope that they were too busy inside to look out the windows.

Apparently, the baddies inside were a little on the busy side – somehow, miraculously, they made it to the door without a single attacker. But now what?

When no one made a move, Tony ducked down and peered inside one of the windows. What he saw sickened him.

The crazy witch Bellatrix was involved again – she was standing beneath a brilliant crystal chandelier, looking down at a weird long-fingered creature. The thing was running its creepy hands over a sword while Bellatrix watched. Hermione was lying at her feet – and she wasn't moving.

He quickly took stock of the rest of the room. A blonde-haired man and woman were standing beside the fire, and JARVIS quickly registered they were wand-carriers. A younger blonde boy was facing away from them, also with a wand. An overly hairy, fanged man sat in the corner, chewing on his claw-like nails – Tony didn't trust him, even before JARVIS said he had a wand.

"Well?" Steve said tightly. Caught up in the scene, Tony forgot that he was supposed to be relaying information. He glanced at his team. Natasha and Clint were glued to the other windows, saying nothing. Thor was tense, lightning still fizzling on his hammer. Bruce was nervous but clearly trying not to show it. And Loki was still as stone, his face serene and calm. What, did he think they would leave him out of the fighting or something? Tony grabbed the god and shunted him in front. "Come on, shield," Tony growled, then turned to everyone else, keeping his voice as quiet as he could. "That bitch Bellatrix is involved again. She's got some critter with a sword, and I think she killed Hermione."

Tony ignored the shocked responses and refused to be affected by what he just said, continuing. "Four other wizards with wands, might be more, couldn't see, but JARVIS couldn't find out anything else."

"We can take them," Clint said, nocking an arrow. Natasha readied her gun while the Captain hefted his shield.

"If you find Ron or Harry, get them out of harm's way. We need wizards on our side." Everyone nodded, then Tony said, "On three. One –"

Thor had no patience for petty countdowns. Roaring his war cry again, he brought his hammer down on the doors, beating them off their hinges. Tony swore with his choicest swear words – which were colorful indeed – but everyone had no choice but to follow.

Tony had a moment's satisfaction of seeing Bellatrix's astonished face – she stood openmouthed, her hand pressed against her forearm for some reason. Then her wand was in her hand, and the battle began in earnest.

Clint immediately climbed the grand staircase, disappearing somewhere above, ready to rain hell down on the Death Eaters. Tony shot two arc reactor blasts and deflected the spells that arced toward Clint, and the archer escaped unscathed. He didn't see where Natasha went, either because she was so short or so fast, he didn't know. And Loki…

S**t.

He didn't see the god of mischief anywhere.

But there was no time to focus on the god's untimely disappearance. Thor's pride had been injured by Bellatrix, so of course he charged her first. Tony was intensely glad he'd wised up some, using the eerie lightning from his hammer to deflect her spells. Steve hovered beside him, ready with his shield to deflect any spells that got past Thor's guard. Then Thor surprised Tony - he actually managed to land a blow, sending Bellatrix skidding across the floor.

And then a green jet of light lanced past Tony, inches away from his chestplate. Tony quit watching Thor's buttkicking session and focused on the long-haired blonde wizard who'd tried to kill him. He smiled as he saw the man cringe. This man was no Bellatrix. Though Tony had to be careful about what weapons he used, so he didn't bring the house down, he was more than a match for this surprisingly cowardly man. After the man clumsily deflected three of Tony's flares, Tony laughed and brought out the big guns. He shot a spray of bullets as a warm-up - One of them lodged in the man's shoulder. Giving a very un-manly cry, the man stumbled, cracked his head against the fireplace, and slid to the floor unconscious.

"That was easy," Tony said with a shrug, turning back to the battle.

Unfortunately, that little incident pissed off the blonde-haired man's wife. She charged him with her wand, and Tony again missed death by inches.

He was really getting tired of that.

As he fought, JARVIS registered movement behind him – he was about to risk it and turn when JARVIS recognized the blonde boy, but he was not attacking – he'd run out to the courtyard. As brave as his father, Tony thought dryly to himself as he parried another green blow. What a family of cowards.

This time, though, Tony didn't get the pleasure of humiliating the wife. As he ducked beneath yet another green laser, the blonde woman shrieked and fell – Natasha stood behind her. Her taser-gloves were still sparking. Tony didn't envy the now-unconscious woman - she must have gotten one hell of a shock. With a nod in his direction, Natasha took off to help Steve, who was embattled with a scarred man Tony didn't recognize.

And then he realized – that blonde boy had run out to the courtyard and gotten reinforcements! Three new baddies had joined the fight. Damn.

Tony had hardly taken two steps towards his next target before a new voice cut through the din. "Expelliarmus!" Cried the voice, and it was a voice that Tony recognized. Tony whirled around and saw Bellatrix's wand flying through the air. It was caught in the outstretched hand of Harry Potter.

Harry and Ron had joined the battle, which certainly made things more interesting. As Harry ran past, Tony felt a strange humming, and knew that the boy wizard had cast a shield charm on his suit. Nice of him.

Tony took two potshots at one of the Death Eaters, feeling emboldened with two wizards on their side. But the triumph was short lived.

"STOP OR SHE DIES!"

So Hermione wasn't dead after all. That would have been good news, but Bellatrix was holding the unconscious Hermione in front of her, with a short silver knife held against her throat.

"Drop your weapons," She commanded. No one moved. Tony took aim at her, but JARVIS informed him that, regrettably, two Death Eaters stood behind her, ready to protect her. Trying to shoot her would probably just kill Hermione, which certainly wasn't a good plan.

Well, _damn._

"Drop them," Bellatrix shouted, "or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"

And she pressed the knife against Hermione's throat, causing scarlet beads to run down her skin.

She'd left no choice. Unless the Hulk decided to appear – and where was Bruce, anyway? – they were just asking for trouble and death. With a great sigh, Tony lowered his gauntlets. To the side, he saw Natasha and Steve do the same. He heard a clatter, and saw out of the corner of his eye that Harry and Ron's wands had dropped to the floor.

Bellatrix gave a maniacal laugh. "Good!" She leered. "Draco, pick those up! The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!"

This was just getting better and better. Voldy was coming? _Now? _Maybe his sudden appearance would at least cause enough confusion to get a few people out safely.

"Now," Said Bellatrix softly, glaring around at them all, "Cissy – Cissy?" When there was no response, she looked around and found the blonde lady, crumpled by the fireplace. She gave a screech of rage – but the sound was strangely metallic…

Then Tony realized – her scream had masked another noise – the crystal chandelier was falling, with Bellatrix and Hermione directly below. Bellatrix screamed, dropped Hermione, and made to throw herself out of the way, but Tony hit her with a well-placed arc reactor blast. She staggered backwards, directly beneath the chandelier. He saw a flash of blue and knew that Steve had rushed in and dragged Hermione to safety. The chandelier crashed to the floor in an explosion of crystal and chains – the blonde boy, Tony noticed with relish, had been standing much too close. Shards of glass and crystal were flying everywhere, and Tony grinned as he saw the boy howl and clutch his suddenly bloody face.

And all was chaos again. One of the Death Eaters from the courtyard had revived both the blonde man and woman, who rejoined the fight with violence – though Tony noticed they steered clear of him. Good.

He'd turned to find a new opponent when he thought he saw a flash of leather and metal, along with a ridiculous horned helmet.

Oh _hell _no.

But it _was _Loki, free of his magical bindings and flitting on the edges of the scene. Tony looked, found Thor, and grabbed the hulking Thunder god. "Did you let Loki out?" He demanded, gesturing wildly to where Loki was skulking in the shadows. Thor looked surprised. "Yes," He said, raising his eyebrows.

Tony stared and willed himself not to blast several holes through the roof. "And… why… did you do that?" Tony said through his teeth.

"He said he could be of use," Thor said, and then he had the indecency to shrug, as though letting loose a crazy and vengeful god in the middle of a battle was of no consequence.

"Said he could be of use," Tony muttered, shoving away from Thor. If they survived, Thor was going to pay for that. Big time.

Tony looked around for the crazed horned god. He was somewhere on the second level… Tony had just enough time to worry for Clint when he heard yet another new voice – yet he'd definitely never heard this one before.

"You must not hurt Harry Potter," A high, thin voice squeaked. He looked up, around, then finally down, locating the source of the noise.

This new thing was even weirder than the long-fingered creature, who was currently unconscious in the corner of the room. This new thing was small, hardly came up to his knees. It was about the size of a small child, but if it was a child, it was the ugliest child Tony had ever seen. It had ears like a bat's wings, eyes way too big for its head – those eyes would look big on a cow – and was wearing at least a dozen pairs of socks, which all clashed horribly with his maroon sweater, upon which there were a bunch of bright badges. He had his hand out as though it was a dangerous weapon, his finger pointing E.T. style at the blonde woman.

All and all, Tony didn't know what to make of the newcomer. And, judging by Steve's and even Natasha's openmouthed reactions, they didn't know, either.

"Dobby!" The blonde woman screamed. "You! _You _dropped the chandelier -?"

"You must not hurt Harry Potter," The thing – a Dobby, whatever that was – repeated boldly. "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

The blonde lady shot a green laser right at him. Tony deflected the bolt himself. The Dobby might have a serious hero worship problem, but if he liked Harry so much, then he was probably worth saving.

Unfortunately, whatever the thing's plan was to save them, it wasn't going to be so easy. The fight began again. Natasha turned to fight the blonde woman, Steve was dueling the blonde man - Clint was raining arrows and keeping two Death Eaters cowering in a corner. There was a yell, and he turned to see the blonde boy tussling with Harry. Harry managed to grab back two of the wands the boy was holding. The blonde woman shot a curse at Harry, which he deflected, and then the fight began anew between the blonde boy and Harry, fighting for the last wand. They were moving too much for Tony to get a clear shot. Hoping that Harry could care for himself, Tony raised his gauntlets and approached the cowering Death Eaters, looking forward to erasing the scum forever -

A red burst of light came soaring from nowhere and hit Tony squarely in the chest. His suit went rigid as the arc reactor fizzled and overloaded. It flickered feebly, then went dark, and his suit without power was just so many metal pieces. Tony toppled backwards as his screen went black. Two seconds had passed, and now he was crippled and blind on the floor.

But he could still feel – he could feel the ring of fire inside as the shrapnel imbedded within his chest crawled eagerly towards his heart. There was no arc reactor, no magnet, to keep them at bay. The rest of the team was so busy trying to save their own lives that they probably wouldn't notice him lying on the floor in the corner. The Death Eaters sure as hell weren't going to tell anybody.

So this is how it all would end. Not in a noble deed, losing his life while taking out a dangerous enemy… no heroic sacrifice, taking out a nuke and saving Manhattan. He didn't even get to die protecting somebody. He was just going to die, die while lying in the corner of a dusty manor. The Death Eaters were probably laughing at him right now.

And there was not a damn thing he could do about it.

_You win, shrapnel, _he thought weakly as he felt the ring of fire contract, edging ever closer to his heart. What bitter irony it all was. The shrapnel, in endangering his life, had brought about Iron Man. Through his arc reactor and his suit, it had brought out a better Tony Stark than the man with no shrapnel in his chest had been. And yet, after all that, after everything he had fought through and lived through, the shrapnel was going to take his life.

How depressing.

There was nothing to distract him from the ever-increasing pain within his chest. Nothing to distract him from dying. He tried to remember the last rites, what to do or say, but he really doubted he'd _ever _known what the last rites were… so that was shot.

And then a distraction came, but it was not the sort that Tony hoped for. He felt rough wrenching on either side of his helmet, as though someone was trying to rip it off.

Whoever it was succeeded, and the front of his helmet was ripped off. The sight that greeted him was so unpleasant he tried to shut his eyes, only to find that he couldn't. The spell that had fried the arc reactor had also fried him – he couldn't move an inch. He couldn't even move his eyes, so he was forced to stare upwards into the face of the too-hairy death eater. He couldn't look away as the man – if it was a man – bared his teeth in a fanged approximation of a smile.

"I never did like shelling my meat," The man said in a throaty growl, bathing Tony in a vomit-inducing scent of fur, sweat, and raw meat. Each smell was disgusting in their own special way, but mixed together it produced a stench so nauseating it should have been outlawed. The man grinned wider, displaying bloody fangs. He continued to grin as an awful sound began – the sound of clawlike nails dragging across the outside of his suit.

Tony went from dreading death to wishing the shrapnel would hurry up. Dying by metal shards was almost certainly preferable to being eaten alive by this atrocious man-beast.

"Quite depressing for your little friends, I expect," The man said, and Tony was forced to listen. "To find nothing of you but a bloody shell?" His nails gouged deeper into the suit as he spoke.

Tony longed to say something snarky, or at the very least spit in his face, but the stupid spell still held him stationary. That seemed unfair – he didn't even get to go out on his own terms.

The man stopped in his gloating, and his head moved out of Tony's eyeline, leaving Tony staring at a bit of the man's midsection. Not exactly the last thing he ever wanted to see in the world.

Something red dripped onto his suit. Automatically, he tried to look, but of course could see nothing.

Two more drops joined the first. The Death Eater before him sagged slightly, and Tony saw the golden point of a spear protruding from his chest. Tony stared in amazement as the spear was shoved even farther through the Death Eater's body – the man gave a low gurgle, twitched once, and was still. The spear was retracted, and the man who had wanted to eat him crumpled and fell sideways.

In his place stood Loki.

Loki – of all people – had just _saved _him? Had he already died, and this was God's idea of a prank?

Crazy though it was, it seemed real. The god of lies was standing before him, clutching the bloody scepter. It wasn't the scepter Tony was familiar with, but long and golden, with a diamond pointed design on the top. The point was wickedly sharp, though Tony had already seen that in action.

Loki bent to Tony's level, his expression unreadable. Then he placed the tip of the still-dripping scepter directly onto the arc reactor.

Tony felt yet another surge of panic as he saw green magic flare around the point of the scepter. _Did he save me to enslave me? _He couldn't help thinking to himself. It hadn't worked the last time, but the god had certainly learned a hell of a lot more about technology since then.

The shrapnel was very close to fulfilling its deadly deed, he could feel it – it would be over soon. Even if he turned into Loki's personal flying monkey, it would only be for a minute or two. Not enough time to do much damage… he hoped.

The green light flared even brighter. He willed the shrapnel to hurry the hell up and finish him off before Loki could use him.

He felt an awful shock, then heard a familiar sound – that of a humming, functioning arc reactor. The fire within his chest faded. His arc reactor was working… and he could move again. His thoughts still seemed to be his own, which was good, but he tried to scramble to his feet before Loki could do whatever else he planned. He blinked – his eyes were very pissed at the fact he hadn't blinked for several minutes – and struggled to his feet, his repulsors re-charged and ready.

Loki examined him for one second with that same, unreadable look, then disappeared, back into the fray.

Tony was alive, uneaten, and still in control of himself.

All thanks to Loki.

How messed up was _that?_

There was no time to freak out over it, not with a battle still going on. Fully intending on cornering the god later, he quickly tried to take stock of what he'd missed while out of commission.

The two Death Eaters he'd been after in the first place were dead, skewered with Clint's arrows. Clint himself was nowhere to be seen. Bellatrix was back up and fighting, taking on three people again – Thor, Steve, and Natasha. Bruce was still MIA, which was worrying. Hermione was still unconscious, lying by the long-fingered thing, with Ron hovering protectively over her, wand out. And Harry was behind a sofa, trading blasts with the blonde boy. The boy wasn't looking anywhere but at Harry. Rolling his eyes, Tony knocked him out with a single repulsor blast. Harry nodded his thanks, but seconds after roared with pain, clutching his head. Before Tony could go forward to see what had hit him, an earsplitting crack echoed through the room, and a dark-cloaked figure appeared in their midst.

Moldyvort had appeared.

Oh, shit.

* * *

Whew. Lotsa stuff!

I'm gonna see if I can just write chapter 11 tonight, so I don't leave you guys hanging D: I really don't mean to.

Recap for people not quite into Harry Potter, or because my writing was too obscure again-

So. Just in case I didn't make it clear - this is Harry Potter Canon Malfoy Manor. Harry pressed his panic button the moment the Snatchers appeared outside their tent - it took the Avengers awhile to get to them, so they ended up in Malfoy Manor by the time they arrived. And also, recap because obviously I couldn't use names, Tony doesn't know who the hell they are.

Blonde guy is Lucius Malfoy, Blonde woman is Narcissa. Blonde boy is Draco. Hairy monstrosity was Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir did die, but the Malfoys are all still alive. The reinforcements that Draco got were the three snatchers that were out in the courtyard - two of them were killed in the corner by Clint, Scabior, the other one, is still alive and skulking around someplace.

Aaand... I think that's everything, 'cept to say Voldy's back and he's pissed and this is gonna be good... or bad, depending on your point of view xD

As always if I made a derp, you don't understand something, etc. just post in the reviews and I'll do my best to answer! :)

And twistyguru, I'm not going to give anything away, but what you requested before in the reviews... it inspired me. It's gonna happen. Just sayin'! :)

Thanks for reading!


	11. Standoff

An evil wait for an evil cliffanger. I am so sorry guys.

As a sign of appreciation to you wonderful readers - and also perhaps as an apology X3 - you're getting not one, but two chapters right now! Yay! Chapter 12 is already written and loaded and will be posted directly after this one. :3

Anyhoo, enjoy!

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Tony couldn't believe his luck. He was already about to drop dead from exhaustion, had almost dropped dead anyway because of a hairy man-beast, and had been saved by his arch nemesis, all within the span of ten minutes. That would have been more than enough for one day. But now, to top it all off, the freaking Dark Lord himself decided to show up. Could the day get any better?

But maybe fate was feeling bad for the Avengers, for the arrival of Moldy actually helped – for the first few seconds, anyway. The blonde family all cringed at the sight of their supposed master; their lapse in concentration was more than enough for the Avengers and co. to overpower them. And Bellatrix seemed overwhelmed by his very presence – in the two seconds where she stared with demented longing at the creepy black-cloaked figure, Steve ripped the wand from her hand and pressed his gun against her throat. He tossed the wand to Ron, who caught it and held it out and ready alongside his own. The rest of the Avengers, including Tony, formed a rough circle around the bald, death-pale man.

And then things got dicey.

This villain was efficient – he wasted no time with typical supervillain monologues. Before Tony could even raise his gauntlets, two green lasers shot from his wand. A copious amount of smoke and sparks erupted, right in front of where Natasha and Clint had been standing. He heard the man's maniacal laugh.

Tony's wordless shout accompanied both Steve's and Thor's, overlapping each other as they all cried out in shock and horror. Bellatrix tried to use Steve's distraction to escape, but he wasn't falling for that a second time. He held her fast, using her as a shield to protect himself from Voldemort. Thor just barely escaped death/coma as a laser shot over his head, then narrowly missed two more. He couldn't make any advances, even with his lightning.

_No, _Tony thought desperately as he shot repulsor blast after repulsor blast, not caring of the consequences. Natasha and Clint couldn't have gone out that easily. They couldn't be gone.

But Tony knew what the green light could do. His gut clenched as he realized he couldn't even ask JARVIS to scan for vital signs. Without his HUD, he couldn't see any communications JARVIS might have for him. But even if he'd had his headset, common sense told him that it would do no good… that they were already gone.

His repulsors came arcing back to him, accompanied by a few green lasers to match. Tony hit the floor just in time, rolling clumsily out of the way. He looked up, ready for the next attack, and was surprised to see Loki stride out from the smoke.

The god looked impressive – even in their dire situation, Tony could appreciate that. Confident and full of power.

But that meant nothing. These were two big villains meeting here – whatever scrap of goodness Loki was operating on currently, he had a nasty feeling this Voldy character could easily sway him back to the dark side.

And if that happened, they were dead. No question about that.

Voldemort hissed like a snake and raised his wand, now pointing towards Loki. Loki raised his scepter threateningly. "Not so fast," He said, his voice amused, a definite smirk on his face. "You are not the only sorcerer here."

Voldemort did not lower his wand, but neither did he shoot.

"Why should I let you – a mere mortal – enjoy the revenge I've so longed for?" Loki said calmly, striding towards Voldemort as if he had not a care in the world. Voldy studied his new adversary, and in so doing, Tony got a good look at him for the first time.

The man did not make a good first impression. He was bald, pale as a fish, with slitted red eyes and absolutely no nose. His teeth were bared in a feral grin, and his expression was so wild and insane that Loki looked positively lovable in comparison – and that was really something.

Loki's comment seemed to insult Voldy somehow. "Mortal, you say?" he said with a spine-chilling laugh. "I possess ancient powers you have never dreamed of, my friend. I have no mortal weakness."

Loki responded with an equally unsettling laugh. "You know not of what you speak. A hundred years, perhaps – you may reach two hundred, if you are lucky." Loki's expression clearly said he doubted he'd last that long. "A trifle, no more. Such a brief time matters little to a god."

A jet of light shot from Voldemort's wand. Loki deflected it with his scepter – there was more smoke and sparks, obscuring his figure. Tony kept his gauntlets up, in case he decided to attack everyone else again – but Voldy was intent upon Loki.

"You think light from a stick of wood could kill me?" Loki said derisively, waving his scepter – the smoke cleared, and Tony swallowed his reaction as he saw both Natasha and Clint, standing and alive. Loki must have deflected the blasts away from them, too – but as to why, Tony had no idea.

"A god indeed," Voldemort said, sounding pensive. Casually, he flicked his wand and sent a jet of light towards Tony this time – before Tony could even think about ducking, Loki had deflected it away.

This was getting weird. Loki was pretending nonchalance, but when the smoke hid him from Voldemort's eye, Tony saw the god lean over and pant, his face taut and strained. Tony had learned enough about the god to know that his magic came from within – it depleted as he used it. It wasn't an unlimited source. When he was weak, he had no magic. The opposite was true for the wizards – their power seemed to have no bounds. Regardless of their physical state, if they could form the words and point their wands, the spell worked.

Loki was not so lucky.

"I was told you had no allegiances," Voldemort said, and Tony could hear the crazy seeping back into his voice. "Why, then, are you wasting your time saving these – _wretches?"_ Three more blasts from his wand, three more deaths Loki had to deflect. Amid the smoke he created – to cover his recovery time, Tony thought – Loki took seconds here and there to try to regain what little energy he could.

Amid all the magical hustle and bustle, Tony thought he heard a sharp crack, coming from directly behind him. He whirled just in time to see the blonde boy and the blonde woman turn on the spot and vanish – they disappeared with a crack identical to the one he'd just heard. So the blonde man must have scarpered first, leaving the other two to trail behind. Tony snorted derisively and turned his attention back to the battle. What a family of cowards – but Tony didn't mind. Three less people to worry about.

Another jet of light flared from Voldy's wand – again, Loki batted it away with his scepter. Tony cursed under his breath and reviewed his weapons arsenal, but documenting his various guns did nothing to help him think his way out of the situation. He hated the position he was in – he was a sitting duck. His weapons were completely uneffective, useful only in deflecting blasts – but Voldemort was so fast, he could hardly register the wand moving, much less shoot anything to save himself. He could run and hide, of course, but then he'd probably just get shot in the back. So he was left with standing there, watching everything play out. Not the greatest situation to be in.

Voldemort was playing with Loki now, sending jets of light flying everywhere. Loki was a brilliant actor, there was no doubt about that – no weakness showed on his face as he faced down the sorcerer. But behind the smoky clouds, he was a different god. He looked drained and weak. He hardly looked capable of standing, much less fending off a dangerous sorcerer. This was not going well. Sooner or later, Loki was going to break, and then someone was going to die.

Tony considered his options again, but they were no different than the ones available to him five minutes ago.

Amid the smoke and Voldy's crazy laugh, Tony thought he saw movement. Without thinking, he reacted – and deflected a jet of green light, aimed for Loki's unprotected back.

He'd just saved Loki. Huh. Tony hadn't thought he'd repay that debt so fast.

Loki's head snapped up at the sound of Tony's repulsor. With a grin that was more like a grimace, he said, "I'd hardly call us even yet, Stark." Before Tony could reply, Loki was gone, back through the smoke and back to annoying the noseless man.

Stuck with guard duty now, Tony risked a glance around the room. Harry was still crouched behind the sofa, his hand clutched to his head, several wands held limply in his other hand. Ron was hovering protectively before Hermione and… Bruce?

So he hadn't run off after all. Bruce was kneeling by Hermione, a little bloody but otherwise okay. Tony thought Hermione was still unconscious, until she raised her hand weakly and waved her wand… and Bruce disappeared.

Well, that was something. Tony could not analyze it, however, for Loki's would-be calm voice echoed around the silent room. "These _wretches _were responsible for the destruction of my army," Loki said – he looked angry now, but Tony thought the expression was suspiciously close to pain. "I say again – why should you, a primitive sorcerer, claim the revenge that is rightfully mine?"

Voldemort lowered his wand.

"Then they are yours," He said, with a gracious sweep of his hand. "Kill them as you see fit. However," He hissed, his snake eyes wide, "When you are finished… I may have use of you. A wizard who does not carry a wand is a valuable addition to our ranks. You would make a fine Death Eater."

Wow. Voldemort was actually handing out an invitation on a silver platter.

A sourceless thud echoed throughout the room before Loki could answer. Loki smacked his scepter to the ground a second after the sound, causing a second, stronger tremor. Tony saw the god wince.

And Tony put it all together.

Holy s**t. Loki – the god of lies – was _stalling. _Keeping Voldy occupied while the Hulk blundered about, getting used to being invisible. He was stalling until Bruce could finish him off. He'd just covered the Hulk's thud with one of his own.

Damn. The Avengers were pretty deep in Loki debt right about now.

"Take your revenge, god," Voldemort repeated, studying Loki carefully. Tony raised his gauntlets and took a slow step backwards, unsure of what to do next. Any shots at Voldy were useless, and he had no idea whose side Loki was on. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Loki whirled toward Natasha and Clint, his scepter raised. Tony was a second away from blasting the god when two shots rang out, followed by the twang of a bowstring. A scream came – but it was not Loki that cried out in pain.

It was Clint. He staggered backwards, his own arrow imbedded deeply in his shoulder.

Natasha snarled – there was no other word for it – and emptied her entire clip at Loki's head. There was a brief flash of smoke, and Loki tauntingly raised his hand, showing a handful of bullets.

So Tony was wrong. Loki wasn't playing for time, but was just playing with them – evil, as he always had been and always would be. Any 'goodness' on his part was just to make the eventual ending all the more bitter and painful.

How could Tony have been so stupid?

And then something happened, something that Tony could not remember ever having happened before – he was proved wrong _again. S_omething big and green and very, very angry materialized behind Voldemort.

Voldy had just enough time to shriek as the Hulk picked him up by his ankles. Tony couldn't help laughing as Voldemort was thrown about like a rag doll, sending chunks of flooring flying everywhere, along with droplets of blood. Tony dodged out of the way of those – he didn't want any Voldy on him.

Tony would have approached Clint then, but the Hulk was being so wild in his antics he didn't want to try. As he looked toward the archer, he noticed Loki, kneeling with his palms pressed to the ground. It took Tony a second to realize there was blood on Loki, too – and it wasn't Voldemort's. Blood was running down his hands, pooling around his palms in little puddles on the floor.

Voldy had been toying with Loki – there was no question of that. The mad sorcerer held a far greater power than what he showed – though he was currently being thrown around like a sack of flour, his strength with magic outclassed Loki's. Tony could see that clearly. And now Tony realized how strange it was that Loki never attacked, only defended. Tony assumed he was just being a little prick, mocking just because he could, but what if his magic was as ineffective against Voldemort as Tony's repulsor blasts were? He hid his weakness in banter. More talking, less spellcasting. How clever.

But now was injured – injured when Voldemort hadn't even meant to. Voldy had been testing him, seeing his magical prowess, whether he was worth his time – because there was no question Voldemort was a giant ego-head. And though Loki had lied and acted his part, he'd failed the test. Some of the spells had gotten through, and Loki was paying the price of his weaker magic as his blood continued to spill.

He was jerked from his reverie by a shout from Steve. The Captain was holding his bloody hand, clutching what looked like teeth marks. The mad witch Bellatrix streaked toward where Hulk had just thrown Voldy into the wall – before the Hulk could retrieve his toy, Bellatrix grabbed Voldemort, spun on the spot, and vanished.

Steve looked abashed. "She bit me," He said shamefacedly. "I wasn't expecting it."

"Don't blame you there, pal," Tony said, clapping him on the shoulder. They both then ran to Clint, where Natasha and Thor were already kneeling by the archer – but their faces were fairly calm. "The arrow hit his shoulder. It's not life-threatening," Natasha said bluntly. Despite her bond with Hawkeye, she was the only one who didn't wince as Clint writhed and thrashed. "He used a barbed arrow – it's best to let a medic tend to it. He won't die from the wound now, in any case." Her voice was as calm and cold as ever, but there was a flash of concern in her eyes. Tony had a feeling she wouldn't be nearly so calm if Clint's life was truly in danger.

"_You infernal creature!" _A voice rasped. They all turned round to see Loki approaching the Hulk. Tony wondered whether bloodloss had addled Loki's common sense. "What could possibly have taken you so –" He trailed off as Hulk leaned down with a feral grin.

"Puny god have _problem _with Hulk?" Hulk questioned, his huge face inches from Loki's. Loki flinched involuntarily, but did not move away. Tony imagined he was trying to unbend his pride enough to avoid another Hulk-smashing – but, considering the size of his ego, Tony guessed the pain of either would be roughly the same.

Loki let out a low grunt that was suspiciously like a whimper, and turned away. The Hulk's laughter could be felt shaking the foundations of the house. Loki ignored everyone within the room and headed to the door.

"Not so fast."

The words were accompanied by the cocking of a gun. Loki stopped walking to the door – a wise move, considering Steve had his gun trained on the back of his head.

Tony couldn't see his face, but he heard the menace in Loki's voice as he said, "You would shoot me?"

"You shot Clint," Natasha said, standing and raising her own gun as well. "Fair's fair."

Tony expected Thor to throw himself in between the guns and Loki as usual, but he did not. He stood to the side with his arms crossed. "Why did you shoot Barton, Brother?" He asked, his voice deep with sadness.

Loki shouted something at Thor in a foreign tongue – it sounded like a curse in some really weird, fierce language. Tony could see the god shaking, but he doubted it was with pain this time. He'd just ripped himself up to save all their hides, and his thanks was a bunch of guns pointed at his head.

This was Loki. Even injured and kinda-sorta on the good side, he was still crazy. Deep-end crazy, driven so by Thor, Odin, the Abyss, and some space weirdo Loki would only refer to as The Dark God. From what Tony had gathered from their workshop chats, they'd seriously screwed with his head. Tony had originally thought mentions of them were just a ploy for pity or some other positive emotion, but if he'd been telling the truth, or even half of the truth… he had more than enough reason to be crazy.

And that meant that even though he'd saved the Avengers, he'd easily try to kill them in insane fury. And it looked like he was getting pretty close to doing that.

So now it was up to Tony to bail the god out. Not a job he wanted, really, but…

Tony went and stood in front of Steve's gun.

"You can put that down now," He said pointedly to Steve. Captain America looked bewildered, but he put his gun away.

"Thank you. Now then," He said, turning to the group at large, "Please tell me you all didn't believe the crap Loki was spouting at Moldy."

The silence that greeted him was not encouraging.

"Brains before brawn, people. Try to remember that. Hulk excluded, of course," He said, watching the big green guy perusing the manor, looking for other live 'toys' to play with.

Tony took a deep breath and let it out. He'd bought into the god's story, too, not that anyone needed to ever know that. But Loki's frequent glances to Hermione, along with the whole 'let me slam my scepter down whenever the Hulk runs into something' – he'd been stalling nearly the whole time.

And if he was stalling, that meant he knew from the get-go that his magic wasn't up to Voldy's snuff.

And that reinforced the only idea Tony could think of, why Loki was keeping them alive – put simply, he needed them. They'd been outclassed today, yes. Seriously outclassed. But Steve had his shield that repelled even the green laser of death, Thor had his lightning, Tony had his technology… all that put together had to count for something. Together with Harry, they might stand a chance at bringing the bad boy down.

But Loki alone? He would be screwed, and he knew it.

Tony knew he was making a lot of assumptions, but he didn't much care. He was hungry, tired, and seriously sore. Anything that sped their return to the mansion was okay by him. Stating his assumptions as facts and really hoping they weren't wrong, Tony said, "Loki was lying to Voldy. Remember, guys, god of lies – that's what he does best. Drawing it out. Trying to buy time until the big guy could come and do his job."

"Then why shoot Clint?"

That was Natasha. She hadn't lowered her gun.

Tony opened his mouth to answer, but Loki beat him to it. "Because, you foolish girl," Loki said, spitting blood as he spoke, "I had to act. You think me standing and complaining about your crimes would convince him? Would placate him? Fools," He spat again. "He was _playing_, did you not see that? He has no fear of magic. It is with the same attitude he is treating the Tesseract. At any moment, the Earth could be lost, my kingdom destroyed, obliterated because of his careless, _playful _magic!" The words sliced through the quiet manor, accented by beads of blood that flew from his mouth as he spoke. "You all are worse than useless to me. I don't know why I bothered." Turning his back on them all, he turned resolutely toward the door. He was followed closely by little drops of blood, dripping from both his hands as he walked away.

Steve kept his gun in his holster, and Natasha did not shoot. "Widow, get Fury on the line and let him know what happened," The Captain said to Natasha, then without another glance at Loki, he went over to help Harry, who was looking bleary and trying to sit up.

Tony turned his back on all of them and followed the god of lies out the door.

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Wow the Avengers are stubborn. And Voldy got hulk-smashed, heh. He survived, though, sorry everyone. Also - Harry got Draco's wand, just so y'all know. :3

Hope you all enjoyed, Chapter 12 will be up in about two minutes!


	12. Life Debt

Here's chapter 12, all ready to get the FrostIron ball rolling ;)

And I would be very remiss if I didn't thank all my wonderful, patient readers - I'm so sorry for torturing you all with such long waits X( Thank you for your favorites and follows and reviews - though I said it before, I'll said it again - I'm writing this for you guys. :)

Enjoy!

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Tony caught the door just before it swung closed behind the god. Though Loki had surely heard him, he continued walking away.

"Hey," Tony said shortly, but Loki did not turn. Tony didn't like being ignored, especially since he'd just stood up for the guy. He fired up his boots and flew a short distance, landing in front of the god. Loki made to go around him, but Tony caught his arm. The thick fabric was slick and wet with blood.

"Um, that's not good," Tony said brilliantly.

Loki snatched his arm back. "What an astute observation," Loki said sarcastically, walking around Tony, heading for the gates.

Tony got in front of him again. "You saved our lives in there," Tony said bluntly. "All of ours. Several times. We're not just going to let you walk away after that."

"They were perfectly fine in letting me do so." He jerked his chin in the direction of the manor.

"Okay, fine. But I'm not."

Loki stopped trying to walk away and just stared at him, his eyes impassive.

"Loki, I know you hate us. We hate you. We have a nice cozy hate-hate relationship going," Tony said, though he wasn't entirely sure that was true anymore. "But you know you need us to try to bring down this guy. And we know," Tony said grudgingly, "That we need you. Even though your magic doesn't compare -" Loki bristled at that, but Tony ignored him – his magic was child play's to Voldy's. If that hurt his pride, tough luck.

"It's still magic. And – " He broke off as Loki leaned over, panting heavily. There was way too much blood splashing on the grass. Tony cut the speech. He didn't know why he was bothering – oh wait, yes he did. This god, regardless of intentions, ha d saved Tony's sorry ass from that hairy beast. And Tony owed him for that. If he could patch the god up, well, that'd be a step in the right direction, at least.

He opened his mouth to say Loki better buck up and accept help, but it turned out the words weren't necessary. With a low grunt, Loki's knees gave way and he went toppling into the blood-soaked grass. That was as clear an invitation for help as Tony had ever seen… even though it hadn't been voluntary.

"You're just going to have to suck it up and deal," Tony muttered as he kneeled and yanked off the first layer of his leather getup.

"Jesus, do always wear this much clothing?" Tony complained as he cut through a thick leather vest. "I often wear rather more than this," Loki said, a faint grin on his blood-smeared face. Tony shook his head in disbelief, continuing to cut away until finally – there was pale skin beneath all the dark fabric. But what was lurking beneath all the clothes made Tony's stomach turn.

Loki's chest and arms were covered in deep, thick gashes; each was straight and precise as though measured with a ruler. "When he was aiming at me, he was not trying to kill me," Loki rasped. "Merely incapacitate me, so I could better be taken prisoner."

"Looks like he did a pretty good job of it," Tony said. Loki did not answer.

Well, Tony didn't have any bandages stashed in his suit. He stood, leaving the god lying pitifully in the grass. "Stay here," He said. Loki laughed, though it sounded painful. Tony didn't know why he'd even said it – the god clearly wasn't going anywhere.

Tony flew to the ship and found gauze, towels, and huge pile of bandages. He grabbed a protein drink as an afterthought and jetted back to the god.

Tony wondered as he flew whether he should go for help, but discounted the idea. Too many people around trying to help were nothing short of annoying, and he didn't want Natasha or Steve setting Loki off again.

And, strangely, there was another reason. No one had ever seen it coming, but Tony just got along with Loki best. In those long hours in the workshop, they'd learned to tolerate each other. Loki had never spent any significant amount of time with the others, except for Bruce – and Bruce was gallivanting as a big green guy at the present. Tony hoped the toleration would extend to letting Tony bandage him up – though a small voice in the back of his head still wondered why he was bothering.

"Drink this," Tony said, shoving the drink in his hand as he unwound the towels. The god was now naked from the waist up, and Tony was finding that more distracting than he would have thought.

Loki unscrewed the top and took a sniff. "What is this foul mixture?" Loki said, eyeing the bottle with distaste. He skewered Tony with a menacing glare. "It would be a cruel trick, to bandage the wounds and yet kill with poison."

Tony's mouth dropped – he couldn't help it. He really hadn't seen that coming. "You should teach a class on paranoia," Tony muttered. "It's not poison - It's an _energy drink,_" Tony said, "So you don't drop dead the moment I finish here. I don't like wasting my time, and if you die on me, that's a hell of a lot of my time wasted."

"How touching," Loki said as he downed the drink with a grimace. Tony – still completely bemused by what he was doing – clumsily toweled the blood off, wrapped him round with gauze and secured it with the bandage.

"There. We're even."

"Hardly." Loki's eyes seemed a little brighter, but he still made no move to get up, which wasn't necessarily a good sign. "I took four blasts from you. Taking back the one you deflected-" He gave an arrogant little nod by way of thanks – "I still am owed three life-debts."

Tony snorted. "You kept track?" He said derisively. "Fine. But –" Struck by a sudden idea, Tony quickly said, "How many life debts does Steve owe you? Or Natasha?" Tony asked shrewdly.

Loki said nothing and turned away.

How interesting.

Before Tony had time to needle him – figuratively – about why he'd gotten special life-debt treatment, a new voice floated to them through the darkness.

"Tony, what are you doing?"

Natasha was approaching them through the darkness. And then Tony realized belatedly how this must look. Both of them sitting, quite close together, with Loki sitting in the moonlight and naked to the waist.

"Don't let Clint see," Was Tony's answer. "If he sees me gallivanting with his shooter, the fury may just finish him off."

"Nice try, Tony." Tony didn't get away with it. "What are you doing?"

Tony gave up on being evasive and came clean. "Moldy's spells weren't as ineffective as they looked. Since I thought we would have more use for a live sorcerer than a dead one, I patched him up." Tony waved vaguely back to the blood-soaked towels, the bandages, and the half-naked god.

"I see." Her expression was impassive, but Tony still felt guilty – hell if he knew why, though.

"Well, we've got a mansion to get back to. Excuse me," He said to Widow, turning back to Loki. "Up you get, princess," He said, offering a gauntleted hand.

"What, no offer to carry me?" Loki said with a smirk, though his sarcasm was marred somewhat as he picked himself painfully off the ground.

"I could drag you behind me, if you'd like," Tony offered in a falsely helpful voice.

Loki rolled his eyes and started walking towards the jet. Every step looked pained, but at least he didn't look like he was knocking on death's door anymore.

And Tony still had that annoying little voice, asking why he'd helped him when no one else would have.

And Tony did not have an answer, but his eyes were riveted to the god's frame as they made their slow way to the jet.

It took awhile to get everyone loaded up. Hermione, Harry and Ron came along for the ride, along with the Dobby thing – they all got on fairly quickly – but it took Bruce awhile to find his humanity and let the Hulk go. Only after he'd been de-greened and Clint had been carried in on a stretcher did the jet finally take off.

Loki was worse off than he'd let on. A few minutes into the journey back to the mansion, he slumped over in his seat, unconscious. Not surprising – he'd lost enough blood to kill a normal human. Gods were made of sterner stuff, but still. No one besides Tony spared him a second glance.

"Hey, Harry," Tony said, catching the boy wizard's attention. "You know a little about this Voldy character, right?"

"More than a little," Harry replied, sounding a little stung.

"Good. Any idea what Voldy did to him, then?" he pointed his thumb at the unconscious god. Harry glanced at Loki. "What do you mean?"

Tony sighed and said, "The green laser doesn't leave any physical damage besides being dead, right?" When Harry nodded, Tony continued, "Then Voldy used something else, because Loki looks like he lost a fight with a giant lawn mower."

Harry looked confused. "Let me see," He said, unstrapping his seatbelt and going over to the unconscious Loki.

Tony grumbled but stood as well, watching as Harry undid the bandage on Loki's arm. When the deep, angular slashes came to light, Harry let out a hoarse cry, dropping Loki's arm.

"_Sectumsempra," _Harry said bitterly. "That's Snape's curse."

"Sectawhat?" Tony said, getting seriously tired of the all the magic gibberish.

"Sectumsempra," Harry repeated, as if that would help anything. "Dark Magic. It's amazing he's not dead," Harry said, untidily tying the bandage back and returning to his seat. Tony frowned at the sloppy job as he went back to his seat as well.

"Need a little more explanation than that, Merlin," Tony said to Harry.

Harry sighed and said, "_Professor _Snape," He made the title a curse, "Invented that spell in his sixth year. Slashes you open like a knife."

"That much was pretty obvious," Tony said.

Harry looked solemn. "Dark Magic doesn't heal on its own," He said gravely. He said it like he was trying to prepare Tony for Loki's death.

Tony resisted the urge to scoff. "Loki's not your average human," Tony said in reply. "He'll be fine."

"What do you mean by, 'not your average human?'" Hermione asked. She looked terrible – deathly pale, still shaking slightly. There were no other physical injuries other than the small cut on her throat, but Harry had explained upon boarding that Bellatrix had tortured her.

Tony didn't quite know what to say – he wasn't sure the proper way to say two of their company were gods from Asgard. Before he could think of something, Steve piped up. "You didn't tell them?" He said incredulously.

Tony shrugged. "You didn't either," He shot back.

"Tell us what?" Harry said suspiciously.

Tony looked evenly at the wizard. "Let's talk when we're back on solid ground. There's a few things about the Avengers you probably should know about. But first -" Tony said, "You need to tell us everything you know about Voldy."

Harry looked about to argue, but Tony cut him off. "You're hiding something. You all are. Your little chats of 'what should we tell them' weren't exactly subtle." Tony was especially averse to secrets after the whole fiasco with Fury and nuclear weaponry.

Harry frowned and said nothing, glancing back at his comrades.

"You tell us, we tell you," Tony said calmly.

"Who died and made you boss?" Tony heard Clint mutter from the medical bay. Tony ignored him.

Harry was still looking at Ron and Hermione. Ron said nothing, but Hermione gave a tiny nod. Harry then turned back to Tony and said shortly, "Fine."

"Good," Tony said with a nod.

The rest of the ride was a quiet one. Tony wished he still had his headset – everyone could see whenever he glanced back at the god, which was more often than he'd thought it would be. Tony cleared his throat and looked solidly away as Steve caught his eyes the third time, looking at him questioningly. He spent the rest of the trip examining the Dobby, trying to figure out what the hell it was. The Dobby was completely oblivious to Tony's scrutiny – he was looking up at Harry with positive adoration. Weird thing.

The long-fingered creature had come with them too, but was back in the medical bay with Clint. It had been attacked by Bellatrix as well.

In short, they were all pretty beat up. Tony looked forward to getting back to the mansion, to get some scotch, maybe some food – and hopefully, some answers. The wizards had a lot of explaining to do.

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Hope you guys enjoyed! :3


	13. Recuperation

Interim, fairly fluffy chapter. Doesn't advance much, but it was fun X3

But anyhoo - Newboy, I hoping you'll like next chapter. Next chapter, Harry will finally, finally get his due. :)

Many many thanks as always to my wonderful readers, who are still with this story despite my egregious gaps of updating D= You guys are all awesome. Srsly.

Enjoy!

* * *

There was a stampede towards the door the moment the jet landed, with everyone eager to get food, rest, or both. Tony stayed where he was and waited for the crowd to clear, not in the mood to push past everyone. A normal crowd, sure, but a crowd consisting of superhumans and wizards was a battle for another time. After Clint was carried out on a stretcher, Tony stood up; it was only then that he realized Loki had been left in the seat, still bleeding and still unconscious.

"What, so he's my charge now?" Tony muttered to no one as he peeked out the door, to see if anyone was coming back with a stretcher to help. Of course, no one was there.

"Some team," Tony growled, going over to the god. He swung him awkwardly into his metallic arms, feeling rather queasy when Loki slid a little, covering the red of his suit with redder blood.

Tony kept up a steady stream of curses as he entered the mansion, heading straight to the medical bay. He couldn't believe what he was doing. Not only was he carrying his unconscious enemy to get medical attention, he'd been the one to bandage him up in the first place.

This _had _to erase a life-debt or two.

"You," Tony said to the unconscious god, "Owe me big time."

* * *

The rest of the team was already assembled in the medical bay. A medical bay was not your usual mansion add-on – but this was not a normal mansion. Considering the trouble the Avengers could get into on a daily basis, Tony thought it would be good to have some place with decent medical equipment to help patch them back up. And, Tony mused as he set Loki on one of the empty beds, it was shaping up to be a good idea so far.

No one spared Tony or Loki a second glance as they entered – they were all grouped around Clint's bed. Bruce had a nasty-looking scalpel in one hand, whereas the wizards all had their wands drawn. Harry's wand looked different than when Tony had last seen it, but so long as it could still do magic, Tony didn't care.

"If you're going to do something, do it fast," Bruce said to the wizards. "We need to get it out of him."

"No s**t," Clint spat through his teeth. His fists were clenched on the bed, and he was clenching his jaw so hard he looked like he had lockjaw. Natasha had her hand resting on his forearm – a huge gesture for her. Tony hoped Clint would focus more on that, and less on the arrow still sticking out of his shoulder.

"We could just try Vanishing it," Harry said, with less assurance in his voice than Tony would have liked.

"That could work," Hermione said, her voice soft but steady. Tony was impressed with the witch – even after being tortured, she was still standing, pale but determined. She'd already saved them all by helping Bruce – and she still had her wand now, ready to help Clint as well. There really was more to these wizards than met the eye.

"It could work," Hermione continued, "But we'll need to stop the bleeding immediately. We can't leave a hole that size open. Do we still have the dittany?" She answered her own question by pulling out her beaded bag and pointing her wand inside. "_Accio Dittany!" _She cried, and a small stoppered bottle zoomed into her hand. She tossed it to Ron. "When Harry vanishes the arrow, pour four drops onto the wound," She instructed the ginger wizard. While Ron nodded, Tony peered furtively at the little bottle and hoped there would be enough leftover for Loki.

"Ready?" Harry said, both to Ron and to the room at large. When Ron nodded, Harry raised his wand, pointed it at Clint (The archer closed his eyes and turned away) and shouted, "_Evanesco!"_

The arrow disappeared. Clint howled with pain as everyone saw what the arrow had left behind – a jagged, gaping hole in his shoulder. Dark red blood streamed out of the wound at an astonishing rate.

"Ron, quickly!" Hermione said. Ron darted in and poured four drops carefully onto the bloody hole. Thor and Steve restrained Clint as his control broke and he started to thrash – but after five painful seconds, it was over. Clint collapsed limply back into the bed as the blood stopped flowing. New, waxy looking skin covered what seconds before had been ripped and bloody muscle.

Clint blinked, stretched, and tentatively touched his shoulder. "I could get used to this magic stuff," He said, staring in amazement at the new skin.

"You're not fully healed," Hermione reminded him severely. "You'll want to be careful with that arm for a few days."

"I can live with that." He moved his arm in a slow circle, then nodded at the wizards and said simply, "Thanks."

"No problem," Harry said with a grin.

They looked like they were going to chat more, but Tony's charge was still unconscious and unattended to. He'd already wasted plenty of time and energy on the god – he wasn't going to have Loki die now because they were too busy chitchatting.

Tony clapped his gauntleted hands together. "Well, now that that's all finished up nicely," Tony said, "Mind doing some more magic over here?" He gestured to Loki, who was still completely out and bleeding all over the sheets. He was starting to look pale as death again, not that he was far from that normally. Still, the amount of blood on the sheets and bandages was worrying.

Clint glared. "That bastard shot me," he growled.

Tony had a feeling that was coming. "He also saved your ass from the green laser," Tony reminded him. "Several times. He could have killed you with that arrow. He could have let you die. He didn't. Is that enough reason to heal him for now?"

No one answered. Everyone just stared at him. "What?" Tony said, feeling uncomfortable beneath their combined scrutiny.

"Did he do something to you, Tony?" Steve asked, his head tilted a little to the side. He stared right into his eyes, as though he was looking for icy blue within the brown.

"You've got to be kidding me," Tony said. "You think he _possessed me?" _

No one answered, but the looks on their faces was answer enough.

Then, before Tony could completely lose it, Bruce came to his rescue.

"Tony isn't possessed," Bruce said, but his tone wasn't nearly as harsh as Tony would have liked. "He has a point. Loki helped us all out. Yes, he shot you, Clint –"  
"But it was _part of the act," _Tony said in exasperation. "If he'd shot me instead, sure, I'd be pissed, but it's better than being dead."

"But why would he help us?" Clint asked, still scowling heavily.

"Because he can't beat Voldy on his own. And neither can we," Tony said, directing the last words towards the wizards.

Bruce continued, "It's going to take all of us to bring that bastard down, and Loki realized that. He covered for Hulk back there. He doesn't stand to gain anything by killing us until Voldy is dead."

"Plus, the Heimdall threat is still in effect," Tony reminded everyone. He didn't blame them for being suspicious, but come on. Loki'd been living under their roof for awhile. If they weren't dead yet, it wasn't likely to happen soon. "If Heimdall thought shooting Clint was an act of war, Loki would be dead by now. Heimdall understood it like we did," Tony said, gesturing to himself and Bruce. Looking sternly at the rest of the Avengers, he said, "So you all better catch up and get with the program."

"I don't like this," Clint muttered, but that was the only dissention he got. Everyone else was silent – which Tony took as a good sign. He turned briefly to look at Loki, and felt sick when he saw all the red. He really shouldn't have wasted as much time as he had. Wouldn't it be something, if after convincing everyone Loki was helpful for the time being, the god just up and died. The loss of a sorcerer, even a sometimes-evil one, wouldn't be helpful. Loki was a good distraction to Voldy, if nothing else.

He turned back to the wizards.

"Someone mind fixing him up before he ruins all the sheets?"

Natasha and Steve remained by Clint's bed, but Thor, Bruce, and the wizards all grouped around Loki's bed.

"He looks bad," Bruce said, stating the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock," Tony said sarcastically.

Everyone automatically turned towards Hermione. This wasn't an easy fix, like Clint's arrow had been. Loki was slashed up and had lost a lot of blood – and Tony doubted the local blood bank carried god blood in their tanks. To make matters worse, the wounds had been inflicted by dark magic, which apparently didn't heal by normal means. So now what? Tony had no clue what to do, and judging by the look on Bruce's face, he didn't either. So that left Hermione. In the brief time Tony had known her, it had become pretty apparent she was the brains of the bunch. Maybe she could think of a solution, because Tony certainly didn't have one.

"Well, we can use dittany to try to seal up those cuts," She said, pointing a shaking finger at the blood-soaked bandages, "But I think we'll have to brew up a blood-replenishing potion."

"You mean that stuff my dad drank when he got bitten by that snake?" Ron said.

"Yes," Hermione said. "So far as I know, the potion replenishes from the blood that's already inside. If he's… not exactly human," Hermione said uncertainly, "Then it's the best chance we've got. It _should,_" She placed uncertain inflection on the word, "Work. But the book never mentioned using it on non-humans, so I can't say for sure," She said with a helpless little shrug.

"Are there any other options?" Bruce asked her. Hermione shook her head slowly. "None that I can think of," She said. Harry and Ron shook their heads as well.

"Then let's do it," Tony said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"He'll die," Ron said bluntly.

Thor let out a strange noise, a mix between shock and horror. "Nice bedside manner, Ginger," Tony said to Ron before clapping Thor on the shoulder. "Worrying isn't going to help your brother, Thor," Tony said, throwing the 'brother' word in so the wizards would know Thor and Loki's bond.

He saw no need to mention that Loki hated Thor's guts.

Thor made a sound suspiciously like a sniffle. "You are correct, Stark," He said, with a brave attempt at calmness. He cast one look towards his unconscious semi-evil brother, than turned resolutely towards the wizards. Getting very close to the three, he growled, "Take care of my brother." His tone and glare made it sound like a threat. "If you think your spells shall fail, call on me. Heimdall shall open the gate and bring my brother to Asgard's healers. I will not have him die."

Though Harry looked confused, he nodded. "Will do," Harry said, the calmest of the lot. Ron, on the other hand, looked terrified and on the verge of screaming.

Tony resisted the urge to make a face. Regardless of situation at this point, he'd prefer Loki alive over dead, but having Loki alive on Asgard wasn't much use to them at all – and that was the whole point of keeping him alive, wasn't it? For him to be useful. There wasn't much he could do for them stuck and powerless on Asgard. But Harry's magic was just that – magic. Hopefully they could make some voodoo and fix Loki up so he could stay on earth.

With a sharp nod, Thor turned towards the door. "Get some food, Thor," Tony called after the retreating god. "You'll feel better." Thor was always ornery if he didn't eat every two hours or so – lack of food, coupled with his injured brother, hadn't put the thunder god in a happy shiny mood. Tony hoped some food would help calm him down some – and prevent any temper tantrums that could bring down the house.

Steve cast a concerned look at Thor as he left – a few seconds later he stood and followed him out. Tony shook his head and turned his attention back to Loki. Steve was like a mother hen – Tony was sure he was following Thor right now, making sure he went to the kitchen and ate a proper amount of food. Steve was always fussing at Tony, trying to get him to drink less and eat something substantial now and again. Normally it was just annoying, but now Tony felt better having someone look after Thor. Beneath the rough exterior, Thor was seriously upset about Loki being injured. Steve would do what he could to help Thor out, of that Tony was sure. And distraction in the form of an overprotective Captain America could only be a good thing.

The wizards were already busy at work over Loki. Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the floor, poring over a book. Her expression was worried. "We don't have all the ingredients," She said, standing with a little shudder. "I'm going to have to pick some up. Harry – give me your invisibility cloak," She said.

"Where exactly are you planning on going?" Harry said, the bottle of dittany suspended mid-drop as he stared at Hermione. "You have a thousand galleon price on your head!"

"Hence the invisibility cloak," Hermione said patiently. "There's only one place that has everything we need – Diagon Alley.

"I'll be safe enough in a public place, no one's going to notice a few things slipping away here and there. I'll drop the money on the counter after I get what I need." She was very righteous for a witch.

"It's still not safe," Harry insisted, going back to putting dittany on Loki's wounds. Tony took a peek at the wizard's handiwork – it was relieving to see some of the bloody gashes beginning to close.

"What would you suggest then? Hogwarts?" Hermione said with a sarcastic laugh.

"Diagon Alley's sure to be a dragon's den of Death Eaters," Harry said. "It's too risky."

"And what could go wrong?" Hermione snapped. "I'll _be invisible!"_

"Is this something I can help with?" Tony asked, getting tired of the bickering. "No," The wizards chorused without looking at him. Humph.

"Harry Potter, Dobby can help!"

The high, thin voice came from the Dobby, who had been standing silently by Harry up until this point. Tony had all but forgotten about the thing.

They all turned to look at it. Staring at the thing anew, Tony couldn't help interrupting. "I'm sorry, but what the hell are you?" he said, directing his words to the thing.

"Dobby is a house elf, sir," The thing replied immediately. "A free elf who helps Harry Potter and his friends!"

So it was an elf. And its name was Dobby. … Okay.

"Sirs and missus, Dobby can go to Diagon Alley and get the ingredients you need!" Dobby said eagerly. Then he turned to Tony, a surprisingly kind expression on its ugly little face. "We house-elfs have different magic, sir," Dobby said, still looking just at Tony. "Dobby can make sure no one sees him, sir, and come back with no wizards knowing!"

Dobby was actually explaining things to Tony. Well, that was polite.

Harry crouched to the little elf's level. "Are you sure, Dobby?" Harry said seriously.

"Dobby will do it, Harry Potter!" The elf squeaked.

"Why does he keep referring to himself in third-person?" Tony muttered. Everyone ignored him.

"Okay, Dobby," Hermione said, beckoning him closer. He went and stood by her side as she tried to dictate everything he needed to get – but in the end, she just tore the page out of the book and handed it to him. "I'll repair it when he gets back," Hermione said defensively as Harry and Ron sniggered. She circled what he needed and, as an afterthought, pressed several gold coins into his hand. "Put these behind the counter if you can," She said. She then whirled and looked behind her. "I don't like stealing," She shot at Ron, who was looking very close to laughing.

Dobby nodded, his bat ears flapping wildly. "Dobby will be back soon!" The little elf cried, and with a sudden and very loud _crack, _he disappeared.

"Well, I can get started while he's getting everything," Hermione said, suddenly businesslike. She turned to Tony. "Tony, do you have a pot I can borrow?"

"Several – no cauldrons, though," Tony replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes and followed as Tony led her down to the kitchen. Steve and Thor were there – Thor was eating an absolutely enormous casserole under the Captain's watchful eye. Thor looked up as they entered. He managed to look panicked even with his mouth full to bursting.

"He's fine," Tony said immediately, then amended his statement and said, "Well, the same, anyway. The wizards are going to brew up some magic potion for him in our soup pot." Considering what he now knew of potion ingredients, Tony made a mental note to buy a new soup pot ASAP.

Thor relaxed back in the chair, visibly relieved. Tony made to follow Hermione as she made her way back upstairs with the pot, but Hermione turned and stopped him in the hallway.

"Tony, we can handle it up there," She said seriously, looking at Tony with concern. "Shouldn't you get some sleep while you can? You're not doing anyone any favors, running yourself into the ground like this. You look terrible," She added with a little frown.

Tony smiled, but he could tell it came out more like a grimace. He probably did look like hell – he felt like hell, so why should he look any different? But Tony wasn't used to just passing out when important things were still going on. True, he hadn't really done anything of merit after dumping Loki on the bed, but it just felt wrong not to be in the thick of things at the current moment, when things could change drastically so quickly.

Then again, he hadn't slept for over a day – he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, either, which told him it'd been awhile. And he'd been so focused on everything else, he hadn't even changed out of his suit yet.

Maybe he did need a little break.

"Get some rest, Tony," Hermione said quietly. "We'll get you if we need you."

Tony heaved a big sigh. Now that he was actually paying attention to himself, he was amazed he'd actually been able to stay vertical and conscious. Sleep sounded good. He waved a gauntleted hand and said, rather sourly, "Fine."

Hermione continued up the hallway alone with her soup pot, while Tony staggered to the kitchen, made himself a sandwich, and ate it on the way up to his room. JARVIS activated the auto-dismantle, and Tony collapsed into his bed in his jumpsuit, too tired and sore to care.

"Those wizards better get me if they need me," He started to say, but the sentence trailed off into a snore as he promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Poor Tony. All worn out xD

Next chapter is going to be serious and groundbreaking, guys, so yay for that! Like I kind of said in the beginning, the secrecy walls are coming down, and everything will finally be out on the open. Plus it's already half written, so it shouldn't take me an age and a half to write! :D

Oh, and pun intended on the dragon's den. X3

Hope you enjoyed!


	14. Truth at last

...This ended up taking an age and a half anyways, didn't it? Ah well. Sorry guys.

This chapter and the next were by far the hardest ever to write... hope they came out okay.

But anyways, since you guys are so awesome for sticking with this story, two chapters again! Chapter 15 will be up in about two minutes X3

Enjoy!

* * *

A strange rustling noise dragged Tony from his slumber. Disoriented and still half asleep, Tony opened his eyes – and found Clint's staring face inches from his own.

That was definitely _not _the face Tony wanted to wake up to. Startled by the unexpected dose of Clint, Tony yelped and shot backwards, hitting his head soundly on the wall opposite. Clint roared with laughter. "Wake up, sunshine!" He crowed, dancing out of the way as Tony tried to strangle him.

Before Tony could detangle himself from the sheets and reach him properly, Clint ran for the door. "You can catch up on your beauty sleep later," He called over his shoulder. "We're all meeting in the kitchen. Hurry up!" He shouted as he ran out, his fiendish cackle still echoing behind him.

"Sneaky bastard," Tony growled, rubbing his head from where he'd smacked it against the wall. His heart was still pounding from the rude awakening. He cursed under his breath as he got up and headed for the door himself. If he knew Clint, he'd probably already overblown the story and told half the team about his little screaming fit by now. Brilliant.

If Clint knew what was good for him, he'd sleep with one eye open for the foreseeable future.

Tony was still feeling grumpy – a pretty good sign he hadn't slept enough, though Clint's little visit probably had something to do with it. Still, he was functioning, and that was all that was necessary. Clint had said they were _all_ meeting – Tony hoped that meant the wizards as well. He was more than tired of working with incomplete information. Maybe the wizards would finally lose the 'I know better than you' attitude and fill them all in about this Dark Lord. Considering they'd all just risked their lives to save the wizards (And Tony had almost lost his a few times over) Tony figured they deserved a little honesty in return.

"Stark!" Thor boomed joyfully the moment Tony set foot in the kitchen. Predictably, everyone was around the kitchen table, wizards and all. Also predictably, there were several dishes of food piled high on the table – if Thor was around, of course he'd make more than enough for everyone to eat.

"Thor!" Tony cried in a mocking imitation of Thor's enthusiasm. Thor didn't even blink at Tony's blatant sarcasm – he was beaming from ear to ear, looking for all the world like a kid who'd just gotten a puppy for Christmas.

Before Tony could ask who'd slipped the god happy pills, Thor stood and said, "The wizards know their magic well. They assured me that my brother shall survive his injuries." Despite the fact that Loki had tried to kill Thor – several times – he, as usual, didn't seem to care. Thor looked like the news was the best news in the whole wide world.

Tony really hoped Thor was an exception with the whole toddler mentality thing. If all the Asgardians thought like two-year-olds… well, Tony could understand why people had quit praying to them.

Still, Tony was surprisingly relieved by the news. But what was more surprising – and disturbing – was the little knot of tension that had taken up residence in his stomach. Tony had been ignoring it – but upon hearing that Loki hadn't up and died, the knot eased and faded.

What the hell?

Clearly he hadn't drank enough this morning.

He went and poured himself a generous glass of alcohol – but was interrupted by Steve. "Tony," The Captain said disapprovingly. He looked at the liquid in Tony's glass. "For breakfast? Really?"

Tony heaved a theatrical sigh. "Fine," He said, and poured some orange juice on top of the liquor. Raising the strange mixture to Steve, he said, "Mimosa. Happy now?"

Grinning at Steve's exasperated expression, he went to sit down with his new morning drink. Steve and Natasha budged up so that Tony could fit between them. With the wizards in attendance, the table was even more crowded than usual. Tony still didn't quite understand how or why the rickety table had been designated as the official meeting place of the Avengers. When it was just a few people, sure, but now with three more people, Tony was bumping elbows and dangerously close to bumping knees with everyone present. He knew the dining room wasn't popular – it was empty and gathering dust; Tony didn't know if anyone had even entered there since everyone had moved in. But the living room was Tony's meeting place of choice, filled with overstuffed sofas and normal, non-rickety tables.

Maybe Thor still hadn't grasped the concept that food could, in fact, be carried from the kitchen. Whatever. They were all gathered, and hopefully the wizards were finally going to spill the beans about Voldy. That was more important than cramped seating.

Tony awkwardly spooned himself a plateful of what looked like corned beef with all the fixings – Thor sure didn't do anything halfway.

And then there was silence as everyone looked expectantly at the wizards. Tony took a huge bite and stared at the wizards too, but they said nothing.

"This is your meeting, sorcerers," Natasha said when they continued to sit silently. "Tell us what we're up against."

"Yeah – we need to know so we don't get our asses kicked next time," Clint added.

"I don't think anything they tell us will prevent that, Clint," Bruce said. Clint scowled at him.

The wizards looked at each other – then finally Hermione cleared her throat and began to speak.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"Everything," Tony said with a shrug.

Hermione frowned. "There's quite a lot," She said quietly. She looked over at Harry, who still wasn't speaking. Frowning deeper, she said, "This is really Harry's story to tell."

They were really awkward in the whole public-speaking department. Tony decided to give them a nudge.

"You don't have to go into some great speech outright. Let's start with some questions." A sentence had stuck in his head from their run-in with Voldy – maybe the wizards could shed some light on it.

"When Loki was having his little chat with You-Know-Who, Voldy said something about 'ancient powers you have never dreamed of.' Is that typical supervillain crap, or does he really have something that's bigger and badder than everyone else's?"

Ron gulped. Looked like he'd hit the nail on the head, then.

"That means yes. Mind explaining?"

Harry said nothing, but Hermione reached once more for her abyss-bag. She scrounged around in there for a minute, then drew out something on a long golden chain – a charred and mangled locket. She placed it carefully on the table.

They all stared at it. "A broken necklace? That's his secret weapon?" Tony said skeptically, one eyebrow raised.

"It used to be," Harry replied. The wizard was looking at the locket like it was the most repulsive thing he'd ever seen.

"Going to need more than that, Merlin."

Harry finally looked Tony straight in the eye. "You-Know-Who was telling the truth," Harry said. "He _does _possess ancient magic. Because of _this," _he gestured to the locket, "And others, he's all but immortal."

Harry looked around the table again, and his eyes were steely as he continued. "This is You-Know-Who's best kept secret," He said. "He never told his followers, never spoke a word of their existence. We've never told anyone either," He said, glancing at his comrades. "We never planned on it, but…" He paused, and the faintest half-grin appeared on his face. "I doubt Dumbledore ever expected we'd team up with a group like you."

Tony didn't quite know what to make of that statement, but it sounded like they were being brought into their confidence, which could only be a good thing.

"You can't tell anyone about this," Harry said, his voice incredibly serious. "If You-Know-Who discovers that we know about his Horcruxes, it's over. This is the only chance we have at beating him."

"We won't say a word," Steve said solidly before anyone else could reply. Everyone else just nodded.

Harry took a deep breath, steeled himself, and said, "You-Know-Who's greatest fear is death – he is willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to become immortal.

"He's not the first to want immortality – other Dark Wizards have gone down that path before. But he…. He travelled farther than anyone else. He made several Horcruxes – hidden across the world, covered with curses. All but impossible to find - but so long as they survive, so does he. With the Horcruxes intact, he's immortal.

"That's what we're facing. That's what we've been doing. We've been trying to hunt down his Horcruxes and destroy them."

Harry fell silent, his face grave. Tony looked serious right along with him. Of course Tony had no clue what the hell 'Horcrux' meant, but he was familiar with the word immortal.

And that was really, really bad news.

"I'm sorry, but what exactly is a horcrux?" Steve asked, looking quizzically at the wizards. The good Captain was always so polite.

Harry looked at Hermione. Hermione, looking grave as well, slowly said, "A Horcrux is a piece of darkest magic. It's when a person commits an act of unspeakable evil… an act of murder. An act that tears their soul apart. They make a spell as they kill, and encase a piece of their shattered soul within an enchanted magical object. So long as that object remains intact, they cannot be killed."

Thor issued a wordless exclamation. "It is an abomination," Thor whispered. He looked positively sick. "The soul is otherworldly, untouchable. To not only shatter it with murder, but rip it from the body to achieve one's mortal means…?" His revulsion mixed with anger. "This monstrosity must be destroyed, no matter the cost." His hand tightened around Mjolnir, and there was a sudden shifting around the table as Bruce and Clint tried to move away from the sparking hammer.

"That's what we've been trying to do," Harry said to the god.

Tony just stared. "So, how many Horcruxes does this guy have?" Tony asked, dreading the answer.

He was right to dread it. "Six," Hermione said. "The seventh still resides within his body."

The implications of that were more than frightening. But before Tony could start to panic too much, Harry jumped in.

"He made six – we've destroyed three. That's the third," Harry said, and now Tony could more than understand his revulsion. There used to be a piece of Voldy's nasty soul encased in there.

"So you're saying, so long as even one Horcrux is intact, he can't die?" Bruce asked slowly.

"Yes."

Silence. Not even Tony could think of anything to say. He'd known the situation was bad, but he had no idea it would be _this _bad.

It was Natasha who finally spoke up. "What can we do?" She asked, her voice calm and cold as ever. All business. "Do you know where the others are? Or even what they are?"

"We think we do," Harry said slowly. "They're going to be objects of importance, at least to him. That locket," He gestured to it once more, "Used to be Salazar Slytherin's."

Despite the situation, Tony had to hold in a laugh again. It was astonishing the wizards were able to blend in at all with names like Voldemort and Slytherin.

"Back up," Steve said, holding up his hands. Everyone looked at the Captain. Turning slightly pink, he said, "Look, I know we need to know about these Horcruxes – but we can't just jump right in. We need some backstory first. You say Salazar like that's supposed to be of some importance, but I have no idea who you're talking about."

"And there's more to this than a bad guy with soul-splitting problems," Tony interjected. "You're not just some random vigilante out to save the world. Voldy made it personal, I get that – but he's killed plenty of people, made plenty of enemies. How did you, and no one else, manage to find out about all this?"

Tony felt bad about indirectly mentioning the fact that Voldy had killed Harry's parents, but Tony wasn't stupid – he'd seen how reluctant the wizards were in divulging any information. It was obvious that the Horcruxes were Voldy's best kept secret, his tie to life – these wizards were not only trying to destroy them, but trying to do so without the noseless man finding out about their quest.

That seemed a huge task for three teenagers.

But Tony was nothing if not thorough, and Tony knew that Harry had played a bigger part in the fight against Voldemort. Regardless of method, Tony was going to figure out what that part was.

Harry heaved a great sigh. "You should tell them, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "From the beginning. They're on our side," She reminded him when Harry continued to say nothing.

"They should know what you've done," Ron grunted, surprising Tony with his support.

"What _we've _done," Harry corrected. That seemed to be a turning point – he looked around at the crowded circle, looked down at the ruined Horcrux, and began.

* * *

That would have been such a mean cliffhanger. X3

This was originally going to be posted on St. Patrick's day, it's a few hours after that now... but anyway, that's why Thor made corned beef. Wanted to throw a little reference to St. Patty's day somewhere xD

Hope you enjoyed!


	15. Past Adventures

Tony's going to have to learn some respect... wonder how that's gonna go.

Thanks as always to my wonderful readers. It makes me unspeakably happy whenever I see the reviews and follows and favorites... I say it every time, I know, but I don't care. Thanks, guys! :)

* * *

Tony's expression changed from seriousness to open-mouthed shock as the boy wizard relayed his tale. If even half of what he was saying was true, Tony had seriously underestimated the boy.

Harry gave a brief recap of his tragic past – a Seer by the name of Trelawney gave a prediction that Harry would be a threat to the Dark Lord. So, of course, Voldy went to eradicate the potential threat. After murdering his parents, he tried to kill Harry – but his spell broke, and Voldy nearly killed himself in the process.

"I didn't know for years why the curse rebounded," Harry said, his voice low. "No one knew. But my mother – she'd died to save me. That act cast a spell of protection so strong that You-Know-Who could not pierce it. His killing curse rebounded and destroyed his body." Harry reached up and absentmindedly rubbed at his lightning-shaped scar.

Harry continued his story, explaining that the existence of his Horcruxes preserved the bit of soul that had been in his body. He disappeared for ten years, resurfacing when Harry was just 11 years old.

That's when the awe kicked in. Tony listened with growing shock as Harry talked of an Elixir of Life, unicorn blood, and soul possession. Tony didn't know how much more he could handle, learning that the both unicorns and the Sorcerer's stone were real, but Harry's expression clearly said he was just getting started.

He told of how he managed to defeat Voldy's possessed servant and, with his friends' help, keep the Sorcerer's stone out of his grasp. Tony thought he might be done then, but no, onto his second year at Hogwarts – where he faced off against Voldemort _again._

This time there weren't any possessed servants; instead, there were giant spiders and a snake that had a glare as deadly as its fangs. And, to add to all the fun, Voldy's Horcrux (though Harry didn't know what it was then) came out to play. With the Horcrux appearing as a 16-year-old Voldemort, it was able to walk, talk, and command a death-eyed snake, nearly killing Harry – again – and Ron's younger sister as well. But once more Harry saved the day, impaling the Basilisk with a sword of all things, and destroying the Horcrux diary with a basilisk fang. So the younger Voldemort was defeated, a Horcrux destroyed… and Harry was still only 12 years old. Staring at the 17 year old Harry, Tony felt a newfound respect for him.

Harry was lucky in his third year – no Voldy, but an escaped convict and some followers of You-Know-Who kept his school year interesting. Tony wondered how anyone at the school actually got any schoolwork done – it seemed like all they did was fight Dark Wizards or get into trouble somehow.

And then Harry dropped the first bomb – Voldemort got his body back, killing a classmate of Harry's in the process. That was seriously bad news from all fronts except one. Since Voldemort now had a proper living body, if they managed to destroy the horcruxes before turning their sights on the living Voldemort – Voldemort could finally be killed.

But Tony didn't feel very good about their chances at this point. The guy had really done a good job covering all his bases.

And there was still more. Harry faced the Dark Lord _again, _body and all. Harry made it clear that that was a battle he wouldn't have won, but his headmaster Dumbledore came to save the day. The truth that Voldy was back was finally exposed to the Wizarding world – but during the battle that ensued at the Ministry of Magic (Magical people had a ministry?) Harry's godfather – the escaped convict – was killed. Harry tried not to show it, but there was a definite wetness in his eyes as he spoke of a veil and of his godfather dying. Tony pretended not to see.

Open warfare in the wizarding world now. Tony couldn't believe how oblivious his nice little… 'Muggle' world had been. Sure, he'd heard of the broken bridge, the 'serial killers', of the strange mists that had plagued England – but he'd never imagined that magical Death Eaters and soul-sucking dementors were to blame for that.

Tony had never felt so ignorant.

And then the biggest bombshell of all – betrayal within their school, a hateful man named Snape killing the headmaster Dumbledore atop the highest tower. Their greatest protector dead, the wizarding world in chaos, the Death Eaters in charge of the Ministry, and Harry, wanted by the law and on the run.

Tony briefly summed it up in his head. Their situation was bad, no question about it. Murderous wizard protected by unholy horcruxes, immortal in nearly every sense of the word. Wanted world domination and nothing less. Definitely not good. But then, to make things about a thousand times worse, the crazy man now had an unlimited power source in his murderous hands.

They were screwed.

Before Tony could move past the 'we're all doomed' mentality, Steve spoke up and broke the very heavy silence. "I am so sorry, Harry," He said, and for once he didn't sound awkward. His voice was steady and sincere. "No one should have to suffer through so much."

Harry nodded mutely. Tony guessed his was too overwhelmed by the recent reliving to speak; Tony certainly didn't blame him.

Steve clenched his fist on the table. "We'll help you bring him down. Just tell us what to do."

Hermione cast a concerned look at Harry before speaking up. "The Tesseract complicates matters," She said, "But we can't kill You-Know-Who – not now, at least. If we kill his body, we won't be able to finish him off completely until he is restored to another body. So, if we ever enter another battle –" She shuddered, "We must be careful not to kill him."

"But we can't just let him have free rein with the Tesseract," Bruce objected. "If he figures out how to use it, the world's his. End of story."

"He's not trying to use the Tesseract for world domination – not yet, anyway," Harry said. "He thinks his own magic is enough for that. No, he's trying to convert the Tesseract into a shield – a force field to protect his Horcruxes.

"That's why you found the snake and the metal at the crater – test subjects, worthless replicas of his Horcruxes, to see if the Tesseract could protect them. Obviously, they failed.

"We only have as much time until he unravels the Tesseract. If he casts an impenetrable field around them, we've good as lost."

Tony finally found his voice. He usually wasn't one for kind words or assurances, but _damn. _The Potter boy had been through a lot. More than the hardships, though, Tony was impressed by the fact that Harry was still solidly fighting for the good side, despite all the crap that had been thrown his way. And Ron and Hermione (though Tony still didn't care for Ginger that much) were just as admirable, sticking by Harry through thick and thin, even when Lord Voldemort himself showed his ugly face. That took more than plain goodness - that took guts. There was no question of courage in these three – they were in it to the end. They would either kill Voldemort or die trying.

But whether they defeated Voldemort or got blown up, Tony would see them to the end.

So Tony cleared his throat and said, "Regardless of the how at this point – we're with you, Harry."

He didn't feel bad about saying 'we' – there was no question on any of the Avengers faces. They would stand with Harry.

"Like Steve said, just tell us what to do," Natasha said. That was huge, coming from her. Her eyes were burning with hatred as she clenched her hands together on the table. Lord Voldemort had hit a nerve in Black Widow – regardless of magic or immortality, she was not a good enemy to have.

Likewise, everyone else looked angered and fired up. Things were going to get interesting. Someone would have to get the happy job of explaining to Fury the change in plans, but now the Avengers had a mission. With Harry, they had to find the Horcruxes - wherever the hell they were – and destroy them before Voldemort figured out how to use the Tesseract. It was quite a task, but as he looked around the room, he couldn't think of anyone better suited for the job.

Then again, he didn't know any other superhumans, so maybe that wasn't saying much.

"Well, I think I've upheld my end of the bargain," Harry said, just before everyone started getting up. Everyone stared at him, wondering what he meant.

With a slight grin again, Harry said, "I thought we agreed that if we told you about You-Know-Who, you'd explain to us why a few of your members are… more than human."

"Oh. Right," Tony said. He'd completely forgotten about their little deal in light of everything Harry had said. "Doesn't really compare to yours. At all, really."

He looked around at the Avengers. Instead of going into a big long speech, Tony just started to point around the table. "Steve here was given an experimental serum to turn him into a super-soldier – needless to say, it worked. He's super strong, fast, heals quickly, and can't get drunk." Steve turned red at Tony's frank appraisal of him.

"Bruce was attempting to recreate that serum – got blasted with a deadly amount of gamma radiation instead. Didn't kill him, but created a giant green rage monster that comes out to play when Bruce gets pissed. You met Hulk back at the manor." Bruce grinned ruefully.

"Moving on – Natasha here is an assassin. A master one." Tony didn't want them to get any ideas that she was somehow weaker than the others. He'd seen her battle for two minutes – that had him convinced. She wasn't one to mess with. Ever. "Don't touch her gloves when they're turned on. And Clint... well, Clint can shoot things with a bow," he said, adopting a bored tone as he savored the look on Clint's face. Before Clint could retaliate, he moved onto Thor, who was the person Harry had been asking about in the first place.

"And Thor's our resident god - he's actually a god from Asgard. Yep, they're real," He said as Hermione cried out in surprise. "All those myths about Odin and Heimdall and everyone…? All true."

"Not all of them," Thor said with a frown. "You humans misrecorded several of our greatest feats."

"What a pity," Tony said sardonically. "My mistake, wizards. Forgive our petty human faults, Thor," Tony said to Thor in a mock-respectful voice.

"The gist is correct, though – Thor here is the god of lightning, and that's Mjolnir, his mighty hammer." Tony figured the hammer deserved that title – it was more than heavy enough. "The guy you helped upstairs is Thor's brother, Loki – he's the god of mischief."

"I fear he is the god of more than mischief now, Stark," Thor said solemnly. Tony shrugged and ignored that comment. Loki was crazy, but Tony didn't believe Loki was entirely evil. Not anymore.

"And then there's me. Resident genius and master of all things mechanical." He finished his introduction with a self-satisfied grin.

"You forgot ego-head in your rundown, Tony," Clint said. Tony ignored him.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all staring at Thor, identical looks of shock on their faces. Tony had a feeling that was how all the Avengers looked about five minutes ago.

Tony clapped his hands together. "Well, I think we're all caught up. What exactly do we do now?"

Harry tore his gaze away from Thor, who was looking resolutely away from the wizards, trying to hide his embarrassment of being stared at. "What now? Rest," Harry said frankly. "We'd be worse than useless, searching for Horcruxes now." Only now did Tony see the dark circles etched deeply under Harry's eyes – Ron and Hermione were likewise shadowed.

Well, Tony could help with that, at least.

"Say no more. Follow me," he said, and he stood as the meet broke up. The wizards followed him up the lift and into one of the deserted wings of the mansion. "Pick a room, any room," Tony said, spreading his arms wide. Playing the part of gracious host, Tony said, "Bathroom's there, kitchen's over there. You need anything else, just ask JARVIS."

"Jarvis?" Hermione asked, looking confused.

Oops. He'd forgotten to introduce his built-in butler.

"How rude, JARVIS," Tony said, addressing the ceiling. "You've been here all this time, yet you didn't introduce yourself?"

_Forgive my discourtesy, sir, _JARVIS answered immediately. The wizards whirled, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Tony pointed at one of the many speakers that lined the walls and said, "Wizards, meet JARVIS. JARVIS, meet the wizards."

_Well met, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, _JARVIS said. _As Mr. Stark has previously mentioned, if you require anything, I am but a call away._

Harry looked unnerved. "What is he?" He said, still staring at the speaker.

"A robot," Tony replied promptly. "An AI – Artificial Intelligence. I had a bit too much fun programming his personality in… so now he's butler of the house."

_Caretaker, not butler, _JARVIS corrected.

Harry's expression changed back to shock. Tony grinned broadly. "Machines are a whole different kind of magic, Harry. You'd be amazed at what a few wires and sparks can do."

"I don't disagree with that," Harry said, looking back up at the ceiling.

"You guys can chat with the robot all you want. I'm going to sleep," Ron said, turning to one of the bedrooms and disappearing inside. Tony waved at the three and turned to leave the wing. "Come down whenever you guys are ready to take us Horcrux-hunting."

He heard muttered assent and the closing of doors. Those wizards must have been more tired than they were letting on. Tony figured he had a few hours to himself before the wizards would be awake enough to help with anything. He got on the lift, thought for a second… then headed to the medical bay.

Just to make sure for himself that they weren't going to be one sorcerer short.

The medical bay was not empty. Clint was in a heated conversation with Thor on one end of the room – and at the foot of Loki's bed was a pair of familiar looking shackles.

So Clint was trying to convince Thor to put the shackles back on. That was bound to be an interesting argument.

Tony took a look at Loki. There was no question at all that he looked better. Though they'd mostly covered him with a blanket, his shoulders were exposed – and what had once been thick gashes were now just thin red lines. And he was no longer the color of a drained corpse, which was definitely a good thing. He gave a small sigh of relief. The wizards had done their magic well.

Determined not to focus on the continued relief he was feeling, Tony's gaze strayed to the shackles lying innocently on the sheets. The metal seemed to glint, even in the diffused light of the medical bay. The angular runes just positively seethed with magic. Hmm…

Tony walked back down the hall, the shackles swinging in one hand. Clint would find out soon enough that the shackles were gone, by which time Tony would already be in his workshop. Those shackles repelled magic. Tony _really _needed to be able to repel magic, and – as Loki had already hinted at more than once – the shackles most likely held the key to imbuing metal with magic-cancelling force. Armed with such logic, Tony felt no guilt whatsoever in taking the shackles from the overeager archer.

And besides, he doubted Loki would take kindly to waking up shackled again. Might as well _try _to stay on good footing, right?

But he mainly just wanted to test the shackles for himself.

Tony made it to his workshop, triple-locked the door, and promptly set the shackles on the scanner. He had work to do.

* * *

This chapter was hard...

Anyway, there will be more reflection from Tony about the wizards later, don't worry, but I tried to give Harry the adulation he so deserved :3

And... just so you guys know... next chapter is going to be _very _FrostIron-y. Just saying. So look forward to that xD

And I had a feeling I was forgetting something the whole time I was writing this, so if I left out something glaring and egregious could you tell me please? D:

Hope you guys enjoyed this! I think Harry finally got his due :3


	16. Discoveries

Okay, that's better, I think. Back to what I want to write.

For those of you who read the first version of this chapter, please read what I wrote in the reviews. Again, sorry... so not my style. ._. This chapter is (hopefully) more suitable. :)

Anyway! Hope you enjoy this chapter. As promised last chapter, there's finally some FrostIron in here. ;) (I know I've said this before, but FrostIron is Loki-Tony Stark.)

Enjoy!

* * *

The shackles were reluctant to give up any secrets – at all – but this was Tony Stark. He didn't give up easily. Instead of trying to figure out how to use the magic right away, Tony focused on the magic itself – whether its main source was the metal, the runes, or both. If it was the runes, spectacular. Everyone would get a celtic makeover and go into battle with runes scrawled all over them. If it was the metal that was the true repellent of magic, they were back where they started. There wasn't nearly enough metal to make anything of use – some nice wrist protectors, but that was about it.

He really hoped it was the runes.

Another interesting facet of the strange handcuffs – there was no energy displacement _outside _of the shackles – all readings were completely normal, even a mere centimeter from the surface of the rune-covered metal. But _inside _the cuffs? Off the chart readings. The shackles didn't bounce magic away – it kept the magic inside instead. How interesting. Now Tony just had to figure out how to reverse the polarity and bounce all the spells back at those nasty Death Eaters.

It was a difficult task with no knowledge of magic whatsoever, but Tony began to realize something as he continued to fiddle with the shackles. What was electricity? Energy. And what was magic? Energy as well. Unpredictable, crazy energy, but still energy. If he could just simplify it, find its root, its base, its core… then maybe magic wouldn't be so hard to manipulate after all.

Or maybe it would make absolutely no difference and be just as hard. But it was worth a try, regardless.

Going with the hope the runes were the root of the power, Tony set to scanning each individual symbol. The runes, when viewed close up, literally glowed. It was a faint light, but most definitely there. Random, unexplainable power – definitely a good sign. He set to work.

Tony thought he heard something behind him as he examined the runes; engrossed in his work, he discounted it as Dummy screwing around... until a raven-haired figure appeared on the security feed above his head.

Tony whirled to find the god of mischief standing casually behind him, as though he'd been there the whole time. A cold trickle ran down Tony's spine as he realized he absolutely could have. He'd relied on his locks and on warnings from JARVIS to keep unwanted gods out of his workshop. He'd also banked on the fact that Loki had been lying as though dead a few hours ago.

Magic, it seemed, firmly believed in instant gratification. Seeing him now, Tony never would have guessed he'd been slashed to bits by a crazy murdering sorcerer. Though Tony could still see a few thin red lines through the laces of Loki's plain black shirt, the god looked much better than he had any right to look.

But speedy recovery or not, JARVIS had no excuses for keeping quiet about the blatant security breach.

"Thanks for the warning, JARVIS," Tony called cuttingly to his AI. Worryingly, there was no response.

Loki's grin got bigger. "For a mechanical creation, I found him much too talkative," Loki said in an offhand tone.

Well, that was rather disturbing. Tony glared at the god. "So, just to recap here - I save your sorry ass, and in return, you mute my butler and break down my door. Great show of thanks there."

Loki's expression didn't change. "Awfully righteous, for someone who is still in my debt."

"Are you still on that?" Tony said, exasperated. "No one's counting here, except for you."

"Considering the debt is owed to me, I am the only one who needs to keep track," Loki responded loftily.

A new thought occurred to Tony, and instead of cursing or shouting, he mirrored the god's self-satisfied grin. "Okay, Loki. Fine. I still owe you. One question, though - what made you so keen to take on the damsel in distress role? Because you see," Tony said, enjoying the moment as the god's grin faltered, "A life debt means I'm going to have to bail you out of trouble again – not once, but… three times, was it?" Tony shook his head in mock wonder. "The mighty god, demanding protection from a human in a suit of armor. I'm sure Heimdall is very proud of you right now." Tony grinned broadly as the god's gaze unwillingly flicked skywards. This little conversation, Tony was sure, wasn't going unnoticed upstairs. The 24-hour spy god was mostly just annoying, but he did have his uses – mainly in the humiliation department.

There was no trace of a grin on Loki's face now.

"I believe you have something of mine," the god said, his expression almost dangerous.

Tony glanced at the shackles lying on his scanners. "I don't think you really want those back."

"They contain valuable information, Stark. Such secrets always come with a price." He snatched the cuffs from the scanners as he spoke. Tony made a grab for them, but moved too late and missed. Loki skipped back two steps, fiendishly delighted once more.

"You know, I think I'm just going to let you bleed out next time," Tony mused, staring at the god's taunting face. "And save myself the trouble of dealing with you."

Loki didn't like that very much. "I've not time for your petty threats," Loki growled.

"But plenty of time to taunt me – because that's clearly not a waste of time or anything."

Loki moved so fast Tony had barely time to register it. In one bewildering second, Tony found himself pressed against the wall, Loki's arm against his throat, his face inches from his.

"Ever heard of personal space? You're violating it," Tony gasped, finding it hard to speak with Loki's arm still at his throat.

Loki ignored that completely, leaning in even closer as he spoke. "I wish to know something, Stark," Loki said quietly.

Well, Tony wasn't exactly in a position to argue. "Ask away," he grunted, still trying unsuccessfully to pry the god's arm off.

Loki finally moved his arm. Before Tony had time to do much more than gasp, Loki hand came to rest instead on his arc reactor. "There is a secret behind this," Loki said. "There is more to this light than just raw power."

This was definitely not a conversation Tony wanted to have with Loki. Playing innocence, he started to say, "What makes you think tha—" but Loki cut him off. "I am not a simpleton, Stark," Loki growled. "Neither are you. You know of what I speak."

Of course Tony knew what he was speaking of – but that certainly didn't mean he wanted to tell. The shrapnel lurking behind his arc reactor was his last, terrible secret – if Loki knew about the metal shards, it would be only too easy for Loki to kill him. They were operating under some strange truce now, it was true, but Tony knew that the uneasy peace was not going to last forever. And then what? Loki stuns him and tugs out his arc reactor. Adversary dead, plus a shiny new toy for him to play with. Win-win for Loki, decidedly lose-lose for Tony.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Loki's scowl deepened. "You were dying on the floor of that manor, dying long before the creature had even reached you. I wish to know why." When Tony still didn't speak, Loki raised his other hand, the shackles falling to the floor with a clatter. Sinister green magic crackled on his palm. "You have two choices, Stark. You may either tell me yourself…. Or I shall let my magic rip the truth from you. Your choice." The grin was back.

Tony looked edgily at the eerie green light still flickering around Loki's palm. Though his magic definitely didn't meet Voldy's standards, Tony was sure the creepy green tendrils would be able to find the shards in his chest…. And who knew what else they would do while rooting around in his body.

That really only left one option.

"You can put that down," Tony said, gesturing to Loki's glowing palm. Loki rolled his eyes but did so. Still glaring at the god, Tony took a deep breath. There was no point beating around the bush. "If you must know, there are pieces of metal shrapnel in my chest that want nothing more than to crawl into my heart and kill me, okay? I got on the wrong side of some gunfire. The arc reactor keeps the shards at bay. To answer your question, that man-beast Death Eater overloaded the arc reactor somehow." No need to mention Tony knew exactly how. Loki didn't need any more techniques to use against him. "It disabled the electromagnet. Currently working on not letting that happen again," Tony added severely, in case Loki was getting any ideas.

Loki said nothing, just stared at him. "So that's it," Tony hinted, shoving at the one hand that still held him pinned to the wall. Nothing happened for a second, then Tony gasped as something ice-cold and _wrong _protruded from the hand still resting on his arc reactor. The reactor flickered dangerously as the green magic slithered through Tony's body, filling him with fear and ice-cold dread. He tried to escape from under Loki's hand, but his arm could have been steel for all the good it did.

He could feel it as the tendrils found the shards, twisting and contracting around them with an almost unbearable intensity. Despite the extreme discomfort, though, Tony fought to keep his expression blank – if he cried out, Loki would never let him live it down. Of that, he was absolutely sure.

Though it felt like an eternity to Tony, it was only a minute before Loki removed the tendrils. Feeling surprisingly weak the moment the magic was removed, Tony sagged against the wall. Loki's arm moved, holding Tony up now instead of restraining.

"What the hell was that for?" Tony demanded, wanting to scratch and claw at his chest. He would have, too, if Loki's hand hadn't been in the way. He felt as though his insides had just gotten a good scouring – definitely not a pleasant feeling.

Loki didn't seem to be listening. "You spoke the truth," He said quietly, sounding almost surprised.

"I'm not the god of lies," Tony reminded him.

They stood there in silence for a moment, Loki looking pensive, Tony looking awkward. "So… now you know," Tony said. "I'm sure your nasty magic backed up my story… does this win me the shackles now, or what?" Tony was just rambling now. "Are we going to play more twenty questions, or do I need to beat you in a staring contest or something?" The god still hadn't looked away. "Seriously, Loki, I –"

Whatever Tony was saying was lost as cold lips suddenly crushed against his. Tony automatically tried to pull away, but there was no place to go, nowhere to escape – and suddenly Tony realized he didn't want to. He found himself kissing back before the god forcibly pushed himself away.

They stood staring at each other, Loki breathing rather heavily. Tony could see shock reflected in the god's eyes.

Tony stared back, bewildered beyond belief that the god had just stolen a kiss from him. Then he realized… damn, he wanted another.

The shock on both sides increased tenfold as Tony closed the space between them and hungrily returned the god's kiss.

This time Loki didn't push away; he pressed closer, which was more than fine with Tony. Somewhere in his mind, he knew this was a very bad idea – somewhere, he knew that he should get away before Loki pulled more magic crap. But despite its convincing argument, logic was trumped. Put simply, Tony didn't want to. He had an inexplicable but very certain desire to let this all continue… he couldn't even feel panic as green magic started to crackle around Loki's frame –

"Tony?"

Hermione's voice sounded through the speakers, and Tony fell forward as his arms were suddenly clutching nothing but air. Tony whirled, wondering at once where the hell the god had went, and what the hell he was going to say to Hermione. And what was the witch doing in his workshop anyway?

Feeling more scattered than he had in… well, a long time, he cast about quickly for the god. Loki was gone – judging by the feeble flickers of magic still hanging in the air, the god had somehow teleported out. So that left Tony completely alone, forced to answer any awkward questions by himself. Bastard.

But he was luckier, so far as Hermione was concerned – unlike what the rest of the Avengers would have done, Hermione had not opened the unlocked door. She was standing next to the camera, peering into the lens in a studious way. Her expression was not nearly shocked enough for Tony to think she'd seen or heard anything. Phew. Tony didn't know what to make of the last five minutes, but he sure wasn't ready to share with anyone yet. Hell, Tony was having a hard time believing it had happened, and he'd caused a part of it.

The god of lies had just shown up in his workshop, threatened him, jinxed him, then kissed him. Tony had no idea what to think about that. What the hell was the god playing at?

…And why had he been okay with it?

Definitely not questions to be asking while an impatient witch was waiting at the doors. Bending down, he scooped the abandoned shackles from the floor and tossed them back on the scanners. He figured he more than deserved them now.

Hoping very much he didn't look any crazier than normal, Tony headed for the door. Before he got there, though, he addressed his AI. "JARVIS, erase the last hour of security footage. We don't really need that on file."

JARVIS still didn't answer, but the lights on the camera blinked in a reassuring way, so Tony hoped his AI had heard.

"I couldn't sleep," The bushy-haired witch said the moment Tony swung open the door. "So I thought maybe we could make a head start?" She looked exhausted still, but that didn't stop her from brushing past Tony and making her way inside. Her expression was pleasingly amazed as she looked around the cavernous room.

"You want to start looking for the horcruxes in here?" Tony asked skeptically. Perhaps not the best thing he could have said, but Tony's mind was still – understandably - a little muddled.

The witch snorted derisively. "The horcruxes are important, but there's not much we can do without Harry and Ron," She said. "I'm talking about getting a head start on magic. I was there during the battle, Tony. Don't take this the wrong way… but you all desperately need it, in some form or other."

"No arguments there," Tony agreed immediately. He'd reached that conclusion a long time ago. "Some more magic on our side would be welcome."

"I'd be happy to –" Her sentence trailed off in a gasp as she spied the shackles. She made a beeline for them immediately, peering closely at the faintly-glowing runes. "I _knew _I'd need my syllabary," She muttered to herself, then stood up so fast that Tony jumped. "I'll be right back!" She cried, turning and tearing out the door. She was back before Tony had time to do much of anything, a huge leather-bound tome held in her arms. It was embellished with the title _Spellman's Syllabary._

Not wishing to be outdone, Tony brought up the preliminary scans that he'd made on the shackles. He enjoyed Hermione's confusion probably more than he should have, but his enjoyment was short-lived – the witch was very quick on her feet, and figured out every electronic graph within two minutes. Ah well. His pride might balk at working with another mastermind, but it certainly beat working with a dunce.

Together they both worked to decipher the strange alien runes. It was slow work. Even though Hermione was magical, this wasn't any magic she was used to. And, as Tony had already figured out, the shackles weren't eager to give up any secrets without a fight. Hermione only left once, to get them both coffee – Tony was liking the witch more and more.

But even all-consuming work couldn't block out the confusion still rattling around in his head. He knew his encounters with Loki were far from over – they lived in the same damn house, after all. They couldn't avoid each other forever. And Tony wasn't sure he wanted to, anyway. Prior to the, ah… assaulting, the god had been proving himself quite useful in the workshop. Time was running out, and they needed to get things done. And the god had usually been predictable, anyway. He was a prick, certainly, and annoyingly cryptic – but that was it.

Now, instead of the typical taunts and overall attitude, Tony had no idea what to expect... but he had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

* * *

All right... Hope this was okay. Lemme know in review or PM's if it's not, please? :3

And please keep in mind that Loki is a sorcerer... all may not be what it seems.

More plot twists in the near future, guys, we're really meshing with the HP plotline now... some very exciting things on the way, yay!

And Newboy, thank you for pointing out the Elder wand (and thank you for such a nice review!) I knew I'd forgotten something! I'll have a whole bit about the wand very soon. :)

Many thanks as always to my wonderful readers, and once more, sorry about the chapter fiasco earlier today. Won't happen again, guys _


	17. Unfair Odds

Whoa.

Okay, first of all - thank you for all of the honest reviews. This is what reviews are for, after all. Thank you for teaching me that subtlety has its place - and last chapter was. not. it.

If you don't want any spoilers whatsoever, don't read the next paragraph. Otherwise, please read on.

It looks like there are two things I need to make very clear. First of all, this _will _be FrostIron. Loki and Tony will eventually be together - it's a pairing I really like, which is, of course, why I'm doing it in the first place. HOWEVER, I am _not_ going to throw out Tony's character for the sake of a bit of smut. Any relationship between them is going to be woven into the plot along with everything else, and it certainly isn't going to be the main focus. And as to anything that seemed out of character for Tony, keep in mind... Loki is a sorcerer who has been alone for a long time, likes to mess around, and clearly has no qualms _whatsoever _so far as orientation is concerned. (Anyone remember Sleipnir?) His magic lets him get away with a lot of things. So if something Tony does seems grossly out of character... well, maybe it is.

If anyone wants more explanation than that, PM me. :)

Now that that's all out of the way... enjoy!

* * *

Tony felt as though he was working through a fog. His deductions, observations, and even his own internal snarky monologues were… off, somehow. Slower, harder to think of, harder to bring to mind. Whatever decisions he made – be it about a cup of coffee, or an all-important rune suggestion – it took him several moments to voice his statement. Nothing was working quite as it should.

Tony wondered whether he was having some sort of delayed hangover – but unless he was totally and completely out of it, his memory was telling him he'd actually drank _less _in recent times than usual. He'd been so damn busy he hadn't had a chance to get a glass into his hand.

So then what the hell was wrong with him?

Whatever it was, stewing about it wasn't going to help matters. He threw himself wholeheartedly – if half-mindedly – into the runes. They were very close to a breakthrough. Even someone as lost in mind-fog as Tony was could see that.

Hermione managed to find rough translations at last. There were twenty individual runes, combined in different ways to create separate spells. Hermione was able to translate every rune set within the main rings. But there were two runes set apart on the edges of each cuff – Hermione couldn't find a thing in her book that looked even vaguely similar, but guessed that their purpose was to bind everything together, keep the spells contained within the shackles.

"But those aren't important now," Hermione said, brushing Tony away as he ran his scanner over the larger runes. "We have the translations. This rune here –" She said, directing Tony's attention at a particularly spiked rune, "Translates to 'block.' It's combined with 'bind'… and 'contain', here."

The Asgardian magicians sure weren't wordy.

"That's it?" Tony said, eyebrows raised. "A few verbs thrown together with some glowing ink, and presto, magic's blocked?"

"_Contained," _Hermione corrected. "These spells were crafted to keep all manner of magic contained within a set boundary… in this case, the shackles. Now that spell, of course, is useless. We want to _use _our magic, not nullify it."

"But we don't have to use their spells, do we? The runes to build our own are there. That 'block' rune sounds like it might come in handy," Tony said.

"It most certainly will," Hermione said slowly. She gave Tony a concerned glance before turning back to the runes. It was not the first of those looks he'd received tonight.

Now that the runes were deciphered, it was time to find out whether they could be recreated and still hold their power. Hermione decided to engrave them with her wand – creating magic with magic seemed like a good idea.

But first they had to decide which runes to combine. As Tony had so brilliantly determined, 'block' was their number one choice – but they weren't sure what others, if any should be added with it.

More hours passed. Hermione's eyes were so bloodshot and circled she looked like a drunk raccoon – but she still worked tirelessly, looking up alternate combinations and adding new runes from her book. Tony absentmindedly scratched at his chest as he reviewed the latest combination of spells. The symbols made more sense to him now than they had an hour ago. Things were finally becoming unstuck in his brain – his hangover or whatever seemed to be finally letting go.

… The hangover that had started directly after Loki had jinxed him.

That _bastard._

Free from the fog's influence at last, Tony could see it for exactly what it was – not fog, not a hangover, but a spell. He'd known the green tendrils had ferreted around in his body, finding all the shrapnel pieces, but apparently that wasn't all they'd done. No wonder he'd felt so out of it – some of the god's twisted magic had taken up residence in his brain!

That explained some things.

The god knew Tony well enough to know he'd definitely reject any advances made – hell, complete strangers could make that assumption. So he cast a spell, fogged up Tony's brain, and had his way with him. If Hermione hadn't come knocking, no question things would have advanced far past what had happened.

And Tony didn't even realize the trick until hours after the fact.

What the ****ing hell.

No one pulled crap like that and got away with it. God or not, he was going to pay.

But at least it explained why he had been running at the speed of a normal person for the past few hours. Hermione would certainly be relieved – now that he could think properly again, her concerned looks clearly said she was worried that Tony was going stupid. He was going to have to come up with a few brilliant somethings soon to prove that assumption wrong.

But there was something to take care of first.

He dropped his stylus with a clatter, grabbing the clear glass remote off the table in the same motion. He wasn't stupid, not anymore – if any lessons were going to be taught to the god, he was going to need his suit.

"Where are you going?" Hermione cried as Tony strode to the door.

"You'll probably hear it in a few minutes," Tony said in answer as the door swung shut. Any revenges he had planned for Loki definitely weren't going to be quiet.

Tony woke up his suit and had it wait for him at the level before Loki's. No need to cut it too close. Even with his brain newly unfogged, he had no clue why Loki had kissed him.

But if his goal had been to screw with Tony's head, he'd definitely succeeded. Talk about a curveball.

"Tony!"

Tony suppressed a growl as he turned around. Hermione had great timing with her interruptions – Harry, not so much. "Checked out for another ten minutes, sorry. Come and find me later." He made it a statement, not a question, but Harry's hand snapped out and stopped Tony from advancing any farther down the hallway. Tony flinched back from the touch – he didn't know if he trusted any magic users now. He really didn't think Harry was up to anything, but… still.

"This can't wait." Harry's expression was incredibly serious. Ron hovered behind him, looking equally disturbed. "Things just got a lot worse."

Tony resisted throwing his hands up in his air. "A lot worse? What the hell could possibly have gotten worse? I thought we'd bottomed out awhile ago."

Harry didn't just look serious – he looked worried, confused… even a little scared. Uh oh. If they boy wizard was scared, it had to be bad. "It's worse," Harry said gravely.

Great.

Harry glanced from side to side, but said nothing. "I don't think standing and staring around is going to help matters," Tony pointed out when Harry didn't move or speak.

"I only want to say this once," Harry said finally. "We need to call everyone together again. Where's Hermione?"

"In my workshop," Tony replied. "She –" But Harry and Ron had already taken off down the hallway. Tony watched them go. "Living room this time!" He called after their retreating figures.

Tony sighed and cast his gaze longingly down to the lower level – but the retribution would have to wait.

"JARVIS, please tell me you have your voice back," He called to his AI, turning back towards the living room and powering down his suit.

_My vocal capabilities have been restored, sir._

Tony wondered whether the spell had worn off around when his had faded – or whether Loki just got tired of it and lifted it himself. Didn't really matter – he was still going to punch the god out, voiceless butler or not. He was happy that JARVIS was back to normal, though - made his work easier.

"JARVIS, wake everybody back up. The wizards have a new emergency for us to deal with."

* * *

With Tony heading the meeting this time, everyone ended up in the living room. It was clear the meeting had taken most of them by surprise. Thor had clearly just been dragged out of bed – he was wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a t-shirt. The most humorous part of his attire, however, was his hair – it exuded static as it flared in every direction. Mjolnir was wonderful in many ways – but the electrifying hammer certainly didn't do his hair any favors.

The Captain looked awake enough, if worried. Natasha looked the same as always - but then Tony noticed one curl, slightly out of place. Perhaps that meant she just might have been sleeping. Or relaxing, or maybe doing something other than observing everyone in her usual 100% alert fashion.

Clint, on the other hand, was asleep on the couch.

Bruce came wandering in a few minutes later, a stack of papers in one hand and a mug in the other. His eyes were as bloodshot as Hermione's. Another midnight oil burner – no surprises there.

"What's this about, Tony?" Steve asked. He fidgeted with the leather arm of the sofa, clearly nervous.

"No idea," Tony said with a shrug. "Harry said things are worse. Wonderful, eh?"

"Just spectacular," Bruce echoed with equal sarcasm. The look they shared, however, was more than a little worried. Things couldn't get much worse… unless Voldemort had finally figured out the Tesseract. That scenario definitely landed in the 'worse' category.

Luckily, the wizards didn't keep them waiting long. Only a few minutes had passed before the trio wandered in, deep in a heated conversation.

"This isn't about believing anymore, Hermione," Harry was saying as he walked through the door. "You-Know-Who has it now. Whether it's the Elder wand or not, it's powerful. Or he believes it is, anyway." Harry trailed off as he looked at the Avengers assembled in the living room. To Tony's great relief, the god of mischief had decided not to attend. A quick check with JARVIS confirmed he was skulking around on his level somewhere. Tony definitely wanted to see the god, no question about that – but not when he was surrounded by people who might object to his less-than-polite plans for the god. Sure, they hated him too, but they couldn't deny his usefulness now. With things so dire, it wouldn't be a good idea to pulverize him to tiny bits.

Not a good idea, it was true – but that didn't stop Tony from wanting to do it anyway.

"So, what's gone wrong this time?" Tony asked, sprawled in one of the better armchairs. If their days were numbered, Tony figured he might as well get comfortable in the time he had left.

"_Please _tell me Voldy didn't figure out the Tesseract. Or if he did, tell me quick – there are some things I'd like to do before the world explodes," Bruce said from the couch, from where he was sandwiched between Thor and Steve.

Harry glanced around, then settled in one of the unoccupied couches. Ron and Hermione sat down on either side of him. Tony noticed with some trepidation that they all had their wands out.

"He hasn't figured out the Tesseract," Harry said to Bruce. "Or not yet, anyway."

"Then what's happened?" Natasha said bluntly. She elbowed Clint roughly to get him awake - he awakened with a squawk, looking around wildly, his hands wrapped around an invisible bow. What he was planning on shooting with air, Tony didn't know, but the image was definitely a funny one – and rife with mocking opportunities as well.

Clint slowly lowered his hands as he saw everyone staring at him. "Next time, just say my name, all right?" Clint muttered to Natasha, rubbing his ribs and scowling heavily. Tony could have sworn he saw Natasha grin.

It was a good thing they were getting enjoyment now; because Tony had a feeling they wouldn't have much to smile about soon.

"Before the Tesseract was found, You-know-who was looking for something else.. .an all-powerful wand, to truly make him invincible."

"There was no reason to believe it even existed," Hermione interjected quickly. "It was - and still could be - the stuff of legend, of people making their powers out to be more than they are."

Harry shot her an exasperated look. It was the first time Tony had seen the wizards bickering. Hermione clearly didn't believe in whatever they were talking about - if Harry's look was any indication, Harry did.

And apparently, so did Voldemort. This was not shaping up to be good news.

"You can give us background later," Bruce interjected. "Just tell us what's happened."

"You-Know-Who found it," Harry said bluntly. "He found it, took it. He has it now."

Silence.

"Well, we're F**ked," Clint said into the silence. For once, Tony completely agreed with the archer. So Voldemort had an all-powerful wand now. As if magic and the Tesseract wasn't enough! Now an unbeatable wand on top of everything else?

They were screwed even before this whole new mess - now they were so incredibly behind, it wasn't even funny. They might as well just go enjoy life to the fullest, because there wasn't going to be much left of it.

"How do you know this?"

Natasha's cold voice sliced through the room. She directed her words at Harry, her tone flat and vicious. Everybody turned and stared at the abrupt change in tone.

Now that Widow had mentioned it, that was a very good question. Did Voldy have a cell phone, texting all his various triumphs to the boy wizard? How the hell did Harry know about all this? Tony had never questioned it before, but now that he was thinking about it, it seemed mighty suspicious. Unless Harry was tapped into the mad villain hotline, something was up.

Harry looked uneasily around the room. "There isn't time for secrets," Harry said, more to himself than anyone else. With a quick glance at Ron and Hermione, he pulled back his bangs, exposing the livid lightning-shaped scar.

"This isn't a normal scar," Harry said. "When you-know-who tried to kill me, and the curse rebounded, it created a sort of... bond," Harry's face twisted as he used the word bond, clearly showing his distaste for the description. "Sometimes, because of it, I can... see things. See what he's doing, what he's thinking. I saw him take the wand."

"It's not something I can control," He said, as Bruce, Steve, and Tony all opened their mouths to speak. "The... visions, if you want to call them that, come on their own. I don't have a choice in what they show."

So Harry had front-row tickets to the inside of Voldy's head. Well, that was handy... and creepy.

"You-know-who thinks he has the world's strongest wand," Hermione suddenly piped up, "But the wand is only as powerful as the wizard." She studiously ignored Harry's glare. "There's no proof it's anything more than a normal wand."

"I think we're going to need another crash-course in wandlore here, wizards," Tony said, looking back and forth between the feuding wizard and witch.

"Now's not the time," Harry said. "It's powerful, possibly all powerful. For now, that's all you need to know. He's going to turn his attention to the Tesseract now, try to unravel its secrets with the new wand... which is why we have to find the horcruxes, now more than ever."

'For now, that's all you need to know?' Tony echoed. "I'm sorry, are we in grade school here? When did you decide what we 'need' to know?" Perhaps Tony's temper was heightened because of the whole Loki incident, but he'd about had it with all the withholding of information crap.

Harry's tone stayed calm. "I'm not keeping it from you... there's just something more important to tend to first. We think we know where another Horcrux is."

Oh. Well, fine then. Tony eased off. "Next time we have one of these little meetings, you might want to start out with that little nugget of information first.

"Bad delivery aside, just where do you think this soul shard is located?" Tony asked, expecting the answer to be somewhere in Antarctica or somewhere similar.

"Gringotts," Harry said. Of course, that was of absolutely no significance to anyone in the room. He continued. "It's the main wizards bank, run by goblins. We think one of the Horcruxes is in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault."

Antarctica might have been a better answer. Even normal, human-run banks were incredibly difficult to break into - a magical one run by goblins and gremlins was bound to be a great deal harder.

"Our only hope is to destroy his horcruxes," Harry repeated. Meeting the eyes of every Avenger in the room, he said quietly, "We need to break into that vault."

Natasha must have been appeased by Harry's earlier explanation about his scar, for she was the first volunteer her services. "I have experience with banks," She said. "A few strategies that might be useful."

Harry seemed to be looking for a more official acknowledgement, but Tony wasn't having it. "We're trying to prevent the world's premature destruction here, Merlin. If we need to break a bank to do it, fine. Let's get started."

Despite the enormity of the current situation, there was a part of Tony that wanted nothing more than to stop down to Loki's detainment level and have a little chat with the god of lies. Tony did not take kindly to being jinxed and used against his will - and communicating that (preferably via a few repulsor blasts) was something Tony wanted to do sooner as opposed to later. But there was a mad sorcerer still on the loose, armed with magic, the tesseract, and an all-powerful wand. For now, that would have to be his focus. Gremlins, goblins, magic, who-knows-what else, all protecting a bit of Voldy's slimy soul. And they had to somehow get past all of them and survive.

Well, Tony thought as he poured himself a glass of scotch, if he survived, he was going to have one hell of a story to tell when all this was over. To Fury, most likely, which took some of the fun out of it, but still…

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

Yesss the Avengers are going to Gringotts. Oh, I have been looking forward to this. X3

I originally didn't plan on laying Loki's spell on so thick, but I wanted it to be obvious he wasn't quite acting under his own will. Hope that's clear now. As always, suggestions in PM or review are welcomed :)

And there's going to be a bigger part with the Elder wand... they have bigger fish to fry atm, but there will be another, longer chat about the implications and definition of the wand soon. :)


	18. New Plans

One quick note about a change of canon - Yaxley did _not _trail on Hermione's sleeve, so they still have Grimmauld place as a base - they just don't like to use it much because of Snape and the diluted Fidelius charm, etc... but no Yaxley.

And... I think that's it. Enjoy!

* * *

Tony was all ready to get cracking on the bank heist, but, as usual, the wizards – even when it was their plan in the first place – had other plans.

"If we're going to be working here," Hermione said, looking around the living room, "We're going to need some protection."

"We've got plenty of protection," Tony retorted, but Hermione merely rolled her eyes. "From normal attacks, yes, but there's nothing stopping You-Know-Who from just Apparating in here and killing us all. He knows who you are now –" There was a very audible gulp from Clint at these words, "—And it's a distinct possibility. Really, it's only a matter of time," She finished.

"Another dire proclamation," Tony said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as well. "Do you actually have any ideas to fix it, or should this just be filed under the 'we're doomed' category?"

It was always doom and gloom with these wizards. If it wasn't an immortal sorcerer, it was an immortal sorcerer with an unbeatable wand. And now, as Hermione had so brilliantly pointed out, Voldemort knew the Avengers were on Team Harry. And unlike the mysterious wizards, they probably weren't going to be very hard to find.

Okay, so the wizards definitely had a point. Some more – preferably magical – protection would be good.

"We may not have an all-powerful wand, but we can definitely cast a few protective spells around here," Hermione said, rather sourly. As Tony had quickly found out, she didn't like people underestimating her magic. Ever.

"But will our normal spells be enough?" Harry asked. "If he knows where he's going, our spells aren't going to keep him out. They can hide us, but not if he has the address and knows exactly where we are. The spells won't do anything if You-Know-Who comes knocking."

"Then what do you suggest?" Hermione asked, even more sourly.

"We could call in help," Ron said, surprising Tony by speaking. The ginger-haired wizard usually didn't have much to contribute when the conversations strayed to strategizing. Tony was also surprised by the suggestion – he didn't think three on-the-run wizards would have many contacts.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't answer for a moment, apparently thinking hard, but then he said, "Well, Lupin for one. He's bound to know some useful spells. Kingsley, if he can. Anyone else we can contact. If we meet at Grimmauld Place, it probably won't be _too _dangerous." Harry turned to Hermione. "Can you do that speaking-Patronus spell?"

Hermione, looking rather put out, said, "I've been practicing, and I think so."

"Good."

Harry turned expectantly to the Avengers, looking rather pleased with himself. Eyeing Harry's grin, Bruce said dryly, "Please don't say you actually expected us to understand all that."

Harry opened his mouth, then shut it again. "This is something a lot better shown than explained," He finally said.

"You've been saying that a lot lately, but I haven't noticed any decrease in the confusion level," Tony responded. There hadn't really been any change in secrecy, so far as Tony was concerned – and any explanations they got tended to make things worse.

And, unlike Fury with his normal databases and files, there was nothing to hack to find out more about the wizards, no magical repository of information that he could link into and investigate. Instead, three incredibly non-talkative wizards were his only source of information. Not exactly an ideal situation.

"We're in this together, right?" Harry said, turning sharply to look at Tony. "We all want to defeat You-Know-Who. We're not _trying _to keep you in the dark –" Tony snorted, "—But we can't say everything. We don't _know _everything. We're just doing the best we can."

"We'll give you an entire magic 101 class, if it will make you happy," Hermione said waspishly, "But perhaps during a time when the world isn't under siege from You-Know-Who."

"Okay," Steve said, cutting across Tony before he could retort. "We _all –" _Steve glared at Tony as he said this, "understand there is a better time to have this conversation."

"Preferably after you guys get that magical shield up," Clint added.

Tony was tired of the endless procrastination, but the information wouldn't much matter if Voldy showed up and green-lasered them all. So Tony - grudgingly - did not argue further.

"Right," Harry said after a moment of awkward silence. "So Hermione is going to see if she can contact a few people who know of protective enchantments – and, since it might take awhile, we're going to a safe house, where You-Know-Who… probably… can't enter."

"But can we do Side-Along Apparition with them, if they're Mu—if they're not wizards?" Hermione asked Harry skeptically. "I've never heard of that being done before."

"Well, Dedalus Diggle said he was going to Apparate with the Dursleys, and they're about as non-magical as you can get," Harry replied. "Besides, they need to be there. If Kingsley or Lupin manage to cast a Fidelius charm, someone's going to have to be Secret-Keeper."

Harry was learning – he started to explain the Fidelius charm right away, instead of waiting for Steve to question it, Clint to complain about it, or for Tony to mispronounce and/or make fun of it.

"A Fidelius charm is the best spell to hope for, to protect this place," Harry said. "It makes the entire building completely invisible and impossible to find – unless the Secret-Keeper tells them where it is. And that includes You-Know-Who. Unless the Secret-Keeper tells him personally, he can't find it."

This Fidelius business sounded like good news.

"If we can cast it – you all need to decide between yourselves who should be the Keeper," Harry said seriously. "Whoever it is will have all of your lives in their hands – one word to You-Know-Who and everything's over. I'm not saying this is the case here, but…" He paused. "… My parents put their faith in the wrong person. It cost them their lives."

Silence. No one knew what to say. Tony had a feeling someone _should _say something, but what? In the end, Harry was the one to break it, gravely continuing his explanation. "But so long as the Secret-Keeper says nothing, the protection is impenetrable. "

So that was the catch - The mansion would safe, but only if that one person could keep their mouth shut. A rather scary proposition, when it came down to it – that was a huge burden to slap onto somebody. Tony understood and definitely agreed that it had to be done, but… it wasn't going to be fun to make the choice.

"Think about it," Harry said. The topic apparently finished, he turned to Hermione and said, "We need to send out those patronuses. Now that You-Know-Who has the Elder wand, we don't have much time."

"We don't have much time, Elder wand or not," Hermione snapped, but she drew her wand. Closing her eyes, she adopted a look of extreme concentration. Tony leaned forward, watching, as her wand glowed silver at the tip. A plume of smoke suddenly erupted from the wand, forming itself into a shining silver otter. The otter floated in the air for a moment, peering at the Avengers with its misty eyes, then turned and flew straight into the closed window, passing through it as though the metal and glass wasn't there. Two more otters followed a second later.

"If they can, I asked them to Apparate straight to Grimmauld Place," Hermione said.

"Then we need to get over there," Harry said. "This place isn't safe anyway." Harry stood up. He tended to look – and definitely sounded – awkward whenever he addressed the Avengers as a whole. "I think you'll want to come with us," He said. "So we can work out how to best protect this place."

"At least let me get some more coffee before we go anywhere," Bruce said, standing up and grabbing his mug from the table. He was almost to the door when he paused and turned back around. "This Grimmauld place… how are we getting there, by jet?"

Harry actually laughed. "It's time you all have a taste of magical travel. It won't exactly be… pleasant, but we'll get there much quicker."

"What do you mean, 'won't be pleasant?" Clint asked immediately.

"Nothing dangerous, just… not comfortable," Hermione said in a soothing tone. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it after awhile."

Judging by their tone, Tony didn't think it was something he really wanted to get used to.

"One thing," Harry said slowly as Bruce disappeared through the door. "I know that Loki is currently... helping you all, but this might not be something you really want to involve him in. I don't know how his magic of works, but it'd be bad news if he somehow messes with the Fidelius charm."

There was no way in hell Loki was coming along, Tony was very decided about that. However, leaving Loki alone in the house wasn't a good idea either.

"Okay, who wants to play babysitter? Because Mr. Liesmith isn't coming with us."

Steve and Natasha threw Tony surprised looks at his harsh tone – Tony ignored them. He was _not _going to get into his qualms with the god of lies right now.

"I'll stay," Clint said immediately. His hand was on his bow and was clearly looking forward to shooting Loki if he showed the faintest hint of… well, anything really. Tony frowned as he stared at the overeager archer. It didn't seem like much of an upgrade, leaving a sorcerer and an assassin alone in the house…

"I'll stay as well," Natasha said, shooting Clint an almost exasperated look. Catching Tony's eye, she said, "We'll keep things in control. It'll be fine."

Natasha didn't have the same crazed hatred that Clint had – and Clint either liked Natasha or was very scared of her, for he listened to her more than anyone else. Whatever the reason, Tony was glad of the advantage.

Bruce came back, draining his cup of coffee as he came. Then the wizards were in the greatest of hurries, standing in the middle of the room and holding their right arms out. They instructed Tony, Bruce, and Thor to hold tight onto their forearms and turn as they did – someone would come back and pick up Steve after the rest were dropped off.

Out of all the spells Tony had seen so far, this was definitely the weirdest.

Bruce and Thor immediately went over, but Tony hesitated. Leaving Natasha and Clint alone with Loki and the threat of Voldemort still didn't seem like the best plan, but it would have to do. "Don't kill each other," Tony said to Natasha, then went to the middle of the room with everyone else. Feeling awkward, he took Harry's proffered arm. Bruce was hanging tight to Hermione, whereas Ron was being crushed by Thor. Steve stood with his arms crossed, silently watching, but there was a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Looking around at the strange scene, Tony couldn't blame him.

"Ready?" Harry asked. Unsure of what he should be ready _for, _Tony simply nodded. "Hold on," Harry reminded him, then stepped forward, turned, and –

Holy _shit!_

He had to be dying. The world had been extinguished, there was darkness surrounding him, but worse, so much worse than the darkness was the _pressure – _he was being squeezed from all sides, so tightly he was going to be crushed alive. Tony tried to fight off whatever was attacking him, but he couldn't move, couldn't fight, couldn't breathe –

Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the pressure lifted. Light flooded his awareness, and Tony was standing in front of an unfamiliar doorway, with a golden serpent for a knocker. Tony staggered and nearly fell over, still gasping for breath. Harry caught Tony in a firm grip, keeping him from falling off the doorstep as he tapped the door with his wand. "Don't fall off the doorstep," Harry whispered. Tony tried to regain what was left of his balance as there was the sound of many locks being undone - then the door slowly creaked open of its own accord.

Tony stumbled through, closely followed by Harry. Through half-closed eyes, Tony saw Hermione and Bruce appear from nowhere, Bruce looking red-faced and dizzy – but thankfully not angry.

Tony turned his attention back to himself. The pressure seemed to have shrunk his lungs – he couldn't seem to get enough air no matter what he did. This was _magic, _for crying out loud. Why did it have to be so damned unpleasant?

Still, they'd travelled hundreds of miles in the span of a few seconds. He could deal with the side effects for that trade-off.

Harry was still waiting by the door – a few seconds later, Ron and Thor materialized on the doorstep. Harry ushered them in, sent Hermione out, then closed and bolted the door.

Unlike Tony and Bruce, Thor looked supremely unaffected by the compressing mode of transportation. A little bewildered, but that was about it. Ron, on the other hand, was red-faced and clutching his arm. Undoubtedly Thor had followed the command 'hold tight' to the best of his abilities, not taking into account the he was holding onto someone's arm. Having felt Thor's misjudged strength more than once, Tony could more than understand Ron's expression. Thor, of course, was blissfully unaware.

Finally able to breathe somewhat normally, Tony straightened up and took a look around.

For all its secrecy and safety, it was a dingy place. Spiked, forboding-looking lanterns lined the walls – thick gray cobwebs clung to them like some sort of disgusting cotton candy. Faded green silk was used as wallpaper, and, unless Tony was very much mistaken, there were a bunch of decapitated elf heads hanging from the opposite wall.

Charming.

Bruce, having recovered from the Apparating as well, was looking up at the cobweb-coated lights. An enormous black spider rappelled down as Bruce looked, hovering a few inches above the doctor in a calculating sort of way. Bruce carefully stepped out from under it as Ron whimpered.

"You guys might want to invest in some bug spray," Bruce said conversationally, still eyeing the spider. His casual tone was ruined, though, by the yelp that followed a few seconds later. An enormous rat skittered across the floor, mere inches from Bruce's foot. "And some snap traps," he added.

A loud crack announced the arrival of Hermione and Steve. Steve, it was very clear, did not like Apparating very much. Unlike Bruce, he was very green-faced and looked as though he was about to be sick. Hermione carefully let him through the doorway as Harry re-bolted the door.

"What the hell was that?" Steve shakily asked as soon as the last lock clicked.

"Apparating," Harry replied matter-of-factly. "Fastest way to travel, but not the most pleasant."

"'Not pleasant?' If that falls under the category of 'not pleasant,' I don't want to know what you magic types consider horrible," Tony said.

"We don't want to know," Bruce said, as Hermione opened her mouth to answer. He looked around the dank entryway. "But where are we?"

Hermione, perhaps put out that she couldn't answer the first question, quickly supplied the answer. "This is Grimmauld Place – ancestral home of the Blacks and Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Nice title," Tony said with a nod. Before he could say more, two loud cracks echoed through the room.

"We've got company," Harry said, looking at once nervous and excited. A quick peek through the glass confirmed that it wasn't Death Eaters knocking. Tony stood back as Harry went to – once again – unbolt the door and let the new wizards in.

* * *

The Order of the Phoenix would be a lot more fun if J.K. Rowling hadn't killed off half the characters D:

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about Mrs. Black/Dusty Dumbledore, but let's just say the spell sets off in the hallway, as opposed to the entryway where they're all loitering.

And Gringotts is comingggg :D

Thank you as always to my readers and reviewers - you guys are and always will be awesome!


	19. A Difficult Decision

Job promotions are usually a good thing - they are a very bad thing, though, for my already-limited free time. Sorry for this worse-than-usual gap, guys. :(

BIG NOTE - I have not had time to see Iron Man 3 yet. :( :( So accordingly, this fic isn't going to reflect anything from it yet. But pleasepleaseplease do not give any spoilers in the reviews! Despite my best efforts I've heard something about a twist and I really don't want to know what happens till I see it.

And I think that's it. Thank you so much for sticking with this story, everyone - means the world :3

* * *

The following hours were some of the strangest that Tony had ever experienced. He thought he had a handle on the basic behavior of wizards, but apparently not. The moment the door open, a wizard in flowing blue robes strode in and immediately pointed his wand at Harry, demanding something about a patronus. Before Tony could do much more than gawk, Harry responded with something about a stag, and the man lowered his wand, all smiles. Harry didn't seem particularly upset about the almost-assault, either. Definitely weird, but maybe that was the normal greeting style for wizards. Who was he to know?

Another crack, another wizard. This one was less threatening looking, with his frayed clothes and graying hair… But then Tony noticed the faded slash marks across his face and revised his opinion. The shabby scarred man approached Harry with his wand raised as well, but the robed man waved him off, saying he'd already checked. Only one greeting per wizard, perhaps? Tony knew he was being ridiculous, but at this point his jokes were about as likely as any true guess of his. Without knowing what a patronus was, he didn't have much hope guessing what the strange encounter was about.

One more crack, and a witch was let through the door. She had bright purple hair and didn't bother with the Harry-threatening – she just stared at Tony and the others with obvious curiosity before she bounded over to the gray-haired man and looped her arm through his. She was hugely pregnant and clearly quite proud of it.

The blue robed man had now turned his attention to Tony, and Tony didn't exactly like the fierceness in his gaze. He was painfully aware – again – that he had absolutely no protection against the foreboding looking man. These little situations were becoming all too frequent for Tony's taste.

Harry grabbed the robed man's arm and roped him into the conversation that he was already holding with the scarred man and the purple-haired witch. Considering the not-so-subtle looks everyone started throwing their way, Tony assumed they were explaining why they were there. If there was one thing that Tony had learned from Harry, it was that Muggles usually weren't brought into confidence about magical manners. Though Tony couldn't quite catch the words, the tone sounded like Harry was trying to persuade them that everything was all right.

Well, that was just dandy. Clearly as a Muggle he couldn't speak for himself anyway, right?

Feeling frustrated, Tony glanced at Bruce, Steve, and Thor. Bruce was watching with barely masked frustration – he didn't like not understanding things any more than Tony did. Steve was unruffled – for him, this was probably par for the course. Thor, on the other hand, looked completely unconcerned with the proceedings and was staring at the elf heads in evident confusion.

"I did not know humans hunted such small creatures," Thor was saying under his breath. He turned to Bruce. "The elf who so bravely saved us - will he be in danger from these hunters?"

"I don't think those are hunting trophies, Thor," Bruce said, but before he could continue, Ron jumped in.

"Nah, those are old house elves of this place," The ginger-haired wizard said. "Crazy old lady that lived here beheaded them when they were too old to carry a tea tray and mounted them up there. See –" He took a step forward, gesturing towards something in the hallway, but whatever he was saying was lost as a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the hall.

"Ron!" Tony heard Hermione cry in exasperation, but her shout sounded oddly strangled. Tony had no question why – his own throat had suddenly shut tight, and his tongue rolled back in on itself, keeping him from saying a single word.

The grimly flickering lanterns in the entryway went out as a sudden wind swirled around them, emanating from the hallway. Tony squinted in the darkness, trying to see what was coming at them this time. His tongue finally unrolled in his mouth, but before he could do much more than sputter, a ghostly voice whispered,

_"Severus Snape?"_

The screams were still echoing all around them, making the voice even creepier. It was amazing they were able to hear it at all. Then there was a whooshing, and a dim light appeared ahead of them, rapidly coming closer.

Harry stepped forward, standing between everyone and the approaching sinister shape. It was tall and gray, Tony could see that much as it hurtled towards them - then Tony's eyes adjusted and he realized what he was seeing.

A dusty corpse-figure was charging towards them from the depths of the hallway. Its bony finger was raised, with its mouth hanging open as though it was screaming, too. It looked as though it was somehow staring at them through its dead, empty sockets. Long hair and a longer beard trailed behind it as it charged.

It was, in short, the freakiest damn thing Tony had ever seen.

Steve drew his gun, but Harry, still somehow calm, just said, "We didn't kill you, Albus."

At his words, the dust-figure exploded, though the screams carried on. "Oh, shut up!" Hermione growled, running forward. She took care to avoid treading where the dusty zombie had so recently been. She pointed her wand at a portrait Tony had not noticed before – it depicted a woman, definitely painted, but being made out of oil pastel didn't much matter to the woman. She was very alive within her frame, screaming and spitting and gnashing her teeth. Now that the dusty man wasn't taking up his attention, Tony could make out the words she was screaming at the top of her painted lungs –

_Mudbloods and Muggles, dirt and FILTH, how dare you besmirch the halls of my fathers! How DARE –_

"Oh, shut UP!" Hermione shouted more forcefully, and with a jab of her wand, the curtains swung shut and silence finally fell. In the absence of screams and zombie noises, the house seemed eerily quiet.

"What a charming woman," Tony said.

Bruce snorted. "Don't talk to me about charming. You magic people have issues," He said, staring at the dust spot where the corpse-figure had risen.

"Just a defense mechanism," Hermione said.

"So are you looking to give all the burglars heart attacks, or what?" Tony said, thinking back to the hair-raising screams.

"Only Dusty is a defense," Ron said. He glared back at the covered painting. "_She's _just a nuisance we can't get off the wall."

Tony opened his mouth to say more, but Harry interrupted with introductions. "Tony, Steve, Bruce and Thor – this is Kingsley Shaklebolt," He gestured to the blue-robed wizard, "Remus Lupin," The scarred man smiled wanly, "And Tonks." The purple-haired witch beamed and waved at them all.

"They're part of the only group still fighting You-Know-Who – The Order of the Phoenix."

* * *

Dust-ghosts and screaming paintings were, unfortunately, only the tip of what was in store. After a few hours of talking with the new wizards, it was finally confirmed that Kingsley could, in fact, cast the Fidelius charm with the help of Lupin and Tonks. So that was good, though Tony still couldn't fathom how it took them so long to come to that conclusion. But, that unfortunately meant it was time to pick a secret-keeper, which a decision that Tony had definitely not been looking forward to.

Once the question was posed, Bruce scooted back from the table.

"I'm out," Bruce said immediately. "The other guy's too much of a risk."

Tony looked over at Bruce. He definitely had a point. The good doctor was a very good choice, but his angry alter ego? Not so much. Probably not a good idea to trust the Hulk with such sensitive information.

"The… other guy?" Kingsley said in his deep voice. With a slight grin on his face, Harry quickly explained to the other wizards about Bruce's angrier other side. The three new wizards looked unnerved – good. Sure, they didn't wave wooden sticks around, but the Avengers definitely deserved some respect.

Tony noticed Bruce looking sideways at Steve – he was definitely the obvious choice. All-around good guy, never sell out to evil and all that. But in this case, obvious wasn't a good thing.

"And not Steve, either," Tony said.

"And why is that?" Steve asked in surprise, looking angry and a little hurt.

Tony continued before the Captain could get his hackles up. "Because you're perfect for the job," Tony answered promptly. "Anyone who knows _anything _about us will immediately assume it's you. So no," Tony said. "We don't need to make things any easier for Voldy than it already is."

"I will do it," A deep voice boomed. Thor – who Tony had thought was asleep – suddenly spoke up.

Tony looked over at the god. Thor's blatant nobility definitely won him a few points – he would never willingly give information to the dark side, as it were. But what Thor had in brawn, he rather lacked in brains. Whoever was chosen needed to be prepared for any subterfuge, and that included being able to recognize the subterfuge when it came. And recognizing tricks and subtlety was definitely not Thor's forte.

So, again, no.

But Tony had to craft a better rejection statement for the god. Tony had a feeling he'd regret it if he insulted his intelligence to his face.

"Thor, there's no doubt you'd do a _wonderful _job, being Secret-Keeper," Tony said, making his voice unusually warm. Steve threw him a flabbergasted look. Tony would have liked to throw him a look of his own, but as Thor was staring at him that wasn't an option. Bruce however, looked calm and unconcerned – Banner was usually up to speed with whatever Tony was thinking, unlike the rest of the Avengers, who liked to trail a few steps behind.

"Then I shall," Thor said, but Tony wasn't finished. "You would do brilliantly… and everyone knows that you fight valiantly for all Midgardians. You'd never help Voldy. But then we have the same problem as we do with the Captain… your nobility speaks for itself. You're too obvious of a choice, Thor. We can't use you."

Tony was pretty proud of himself as Thor settled back into wooden kitchen chair. "Your logic is sound, Stark," Thor said, but he looked very pleased with himself. Flattery could work wonders sometimes – and was decidedly a better idea than calling the god stupid.

They were narrowing it down, and Tony was both disturbed and gratified that his name was still in the pool.

"What about Natasha?" Bruce said after a time, looking around the circle. The wizards were all looking awkward, but Tony ignored them completely. Let them be the ones left out for a change.

Tony considered what Bruce had said. Black Widow. Natasha, the spy, the rogue turned good. She'd turned her back on evil but kept the tricks. She'd definitely recognize any attacks that came her way – she'd be a good choice.

But what about Tony Stark? Who would ever think of choosing the selfish man in the suit, whose only power was in his technology? Take away the suit and take away the power - he had no question that that's how Voldy would view it. He wasn't just a bad choice, he was a stupid one. Voldy knew all about protection – why would anyone entrust such important information in someone who placed their life in an electrical suit of armor? He didn't have a superpower, he wasn't an assassin, and he certainly didn't have magic. Voldy definitely looked down on electricity (what wizard didn't?) and Tony thought he could spin that to his advantage. Voldy undoubtedly would underestimate the capabilities of his suit, which could only be a good thing. If anything he'd guessed about Voldy was right, he'd never assume the electrical knight would be the keeper of their greatest hope. And it wasn't like Tony was completely defenseless. Intellect was never out of place. Tony wasn't overly good like Steve, formerly evil like Natasha… he was just someone who could outthink, outsmart, and also laugh at anyone who tried to get the better of him.

And maybe it wasn't right to say he didn't have magic. He was close, very close to a breakthrough with he runes, he could feel it - which, if all went well, meant he'd at least have some magical protection. If it worked, it put him on more even footing with the wizards than they ever would have thought possible.

Which made him just about perfect for the job.

Damn it.

"Well, Natasha's a great choice, but I think the job's already taken," Tony said conversationally.

"By who?" Steve asked immediately.

Tony allowed himself a grin. "By me."

It wasn't a responsibility he wanted, by any means, but he couldn't help but think he was suited for it. Sure, it was probably his ego talking, but there was a fair amount of sense in there too.

Predictably, it took awhile to talk everyone around. It wasn't an easy thing, but eventually they all – rather grudgingly – agreed.

Kingsley intoned in his deep voice that there was no time to waste – he'd already stood and was heading back down the dark hallway. They'd convened in the much-pleasanter kitchen (what was it about kitchens as meeting places?) but everyone filtered back through the bleak hallway and to the door. They would have made it out quietly if not for Tonks, who tripped over an umbrella stand and set the woman to shrieking again. This time Lupin went over and wrenched the curtains shut himself. Tonks picked up the umbrella stand, which looked disturbingly like an elephant leg.

"It's a troll leg," She whispered conversationally to Tony as they went back towards the door. "Cool, eh?" She trotted ahead, back towards Lupin, and as she went Tony swore he saw her hair change smoothly from purple to pink.

Hair-color changing magic. What would they think of next?

Apparating was just as bad the second time as it was the first. Actually, it was probably worse, because Tony tensed up before the pressure began, making the squeezing darkness even more unbearable.

"First thing on the list after this Voldy thing is taken care of," Tony gasped as the world became visible around him again, "Make a _non-compressing _transporter. Screw the 'it's impossible' nonsense, I'll figure it out. There has to be a way to beam from London without being crushed along the way," He said, massaging his ribs.

"Well, let me know how that goes," Harry said, looking both completely unruffled by the Apparating and amused at Tony's reaction. Tony grumbled and turned away, looking instead at the three new wizards, who were standing side-by-side in front of the mansion. They had their wands raised, but Lupin suddenly stopped and went over to Tony. "Are there people inside?" He asked. When Tony nodded, he gave Tony a push towards the door. "Have them come out here, unless you want them all to be Secret-Keepers too," He said.

"Nope, definitely not," Bruce said from behind them. Loki as secret-keeper? No thank you. Tony was already heading towards the door. "And hurry!" Lupin shouted at Tony's retreating back, as though he wasn't moving fast enough.

So Tony had to run in and shove everybody out, then have a spell cast on him that put the mansion - and everyone within it – in his hands.

And then – as if that wasn't fun enough – then they got to start planning a break-in into the most secure magical bank in the world.

Just _great._

* * *

Just in case it wasn't clear enough, the whole threatening-wand business was Kingsley asking the secret question about Harry's patronus to make sure it was Harry. Same for Lupin - though, if he'd gotten the chance to finish, he probably would have asked a different question.

I originally had a much longer scene with everyone in the Order, but I cut it because it didn't really fit. As it is, it's kind of small/pathetic, I know... Consider this a teaser for the minor characters of HP. Don't worry, you'll get much more of them later!

And we'll be at Gringotts in 3-4 chapters, yayyayyay!

Hope you enjoyed!


	20. Explosive Ideas

Sorry for the worse-than-usual wait, guys :(

Still, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was easy to get everyone out of the mansion – but for once, Tony wished it hadn't been _that _easy. Natasha was in the security feed room, Clint was in the kitchen – they both left to stand with the wizards outside, Clint still clutching a half-eaten sandwich.

But Loki, as JARVIS told him, was skulking around on the lower level. Tony was all ready to go and drag him out, but he'd hardly taken two steps to the lift when Loki suddenly appeared, leaning against the wall in a crackle of green energy, smiling casually as though he'd been there the whole time.

"Your lifts are quite cute," Loki said with a grin, "But I find magic rather more effective."

Tony stared. So much for the locks then. The threat of Heimdall would – hopefully – keep Loki somewhat in check, but he still didn't like the idea that Loki could beam wherever the hell he wanted.

Damn magic.

This was just embarrassing. Magic was the wild card, beating Tony at every turn. He wasn't going to stand it for much longer. He had the tools - he'd figure out a way to harness it. After this whole Fidelius business was over with, he was going to lock himself in the workshop until he managed to get some kind of control over the runes.

"Save your gloating for someone who cares," Tony said, gesturing towards the door. "Get out please?"

"You seem bothered, Stark," Loki said, still casually amused. He hadn't taken one step toward the door.

Tony wanted to strangle him.

"Who, me? Bothered?" Tony said, falsely surprised. "I wonder why. Couldn't have anything to do with the fact a pain-in-the-ass sorcerer jinxed me or anything."

Loki's smile didn't fade. "I think you overestimate the bounds of my magic, Stark," he said quietly. "You are blaming me for something that was not wholly my doing."

Tony had no idea what to make of that sentence – and he wasn't particularly in the mood to figure it out.

"And I think _you_ overestimate my patience. Get out before I blast your ass out the door."

Loki laughed, but did as Tony commanded. Tony glared at the god's figure as he retreated. Once Loki was far enough away, standing by Natasha, Tony exited the mansion himself and approached the shabby-looking wizard.

"Okay, Lupin. Everyone's out. Do your stuff," Tony said, waving his hands about to illustrate the magic 'stuff'.

"We'll get right on it," Lupin said with a faint smile. "You need to stay within the perimeter –" he shooed Tony back towards the door as he spoke, "—while we perform the spell. Please, don't leave until we say so. This is a difficult spell, and not one I particularly want to repeat."

"Yes, sir!" Tony said immediately. Lupin didn't catch the sarcasm.

Tonks and Kingsley converged on Lupin – Tony wandered back to the house, sitting on one of the steps and watching as Lupin dragged Hermione into their circle. A long conversation followed, so long that Tony wondered whether he should just go back inside. He would still be inside the perimeter, right? But just as he started to stand up, the group broke and spread out. Kingsley stayed where he was, but Tonks, Lupin, and Hermione started to spread out into a wide circle. Tony saw with some satisfaction that they ended up Apparating to the four points of the mansion – the place was simply too big to walk around.

"Stay where you are, Tony," Kingsley called, then raised his wand and shot a beam of thick silver light into the air. Tony squinted and looked up, to see three other beams arch up and meet it, at a point that Tony supposed was the middle of the mansion. A kind of haze started to spread from where the four beams of light met – it flowed down, forming a kind of bubble around the mansion and Tony.

A high wind suddenly picked up, swirling around the mansion and completing the perimeter. Over the roar of the wind, Tony thought he heard Kingsley shout something. "What?" He shouted back, but the second response was no clearer than the first. Then, faintly from his left, he heard Hermione scream, "Just say yes!"

"Okay, yes!" Tony shouted, really hoping he hadn't just sold his soul away or agreed to some other such magical curse.

Immediately the barrier crackled, and, with a great surge of brilliant purple light, disappeared – Tony felt a shock jolt through his body, and there was a second, stronger flash of light. He closed his eyes against it – when he opened them, everything was as it was before. The wind was gone, the light was gone, and other than a strange chalky taste in his mouth, he felt normal.

Considering his prior experiences with magic, this had gone over a lot better than expected. No crushing darkness, no dusty corpses, no disgusting potions… definitely a success in Tony's book.

While standing up and stretching (just to make sure everything was working) he glanced over at the gathered Avengers and wizards. He kind of expected everyone to start to filter back in, but the Avengers stayed in their awkward-looking bunch… out in the open, where Voldy could beam in anytime. He was just about to usher the idiots in when he heard a distinct shout.

"Where the hell did the house go?"

Clint, subtle as always.

"Guess the spell worked," Tony said to himself. He'd forgotten they couldn't immediately see the house – that Tony actually had to tell them of it to let them in.

Well, might as well take advantage of it. Striding confidently forward, he both expected and enjoyed immensely the gasps as he crossed the invisible line and became visible to them again.

Tony would have liked to stay and gloat awhile, but their exposed position unfortunately ruled that out. He didn't exactly want Voldy to come and kill everyone while he was taunting them."Welcome to the mansion, everyone," he said, going to each person in turn and telling them the address, as Kingsley had explained earlier. "Okay – now let's get inside before Voldy comes and wastes all our effort."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, along with all the Avengers, quickly hastened into the now-visible house, but the other three wizards stayed put. "We must be getting back," Kingsley said in his deep voice. "This house is protected now. So long as you keep the secret, not even the Dark Lord may enter."

It was effectively the same sentence Tony had heard at least twenty times before. Despite being a clear genius and all, they often didn't treat him as such. "Got it. If a bald noseless man ever comes up and asks me where I live, I promise you I won't say a word," Tony said seriously.

"Do not tell _anyone," _Kingsley emphasized, "Regardless of looks."

"He understands, Kingsley," Lupin answered for him. He glanced worryingly up at the sky. "We really must be going. It's not terribly safe, standing out in the open like this."

"If 'the open' is so dangerous, you could just take about ten steps to your right," Tony suggested, glancing over to where he knew the invisible barrier he paused, and found himself adding, "You can stay, if you like. In times of war and whatnot… a spell-protected mansion is probably a pretty good place to stay." Tony was a little surprised at his own generosity, but these wizards had just helped out in a big way – and besides, this _was _a war. If it was safer for them here, then they could have the top floor. Yet another benefit of a mansion – they could certainly pack a lot of houseguests.

"Thank you for the offer, but we really must get back," Lupin said. "Don't worry -The Order is well protected." With a nod, Lupin said, "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Iron Man." The pink-haired witch gave a bubbly goodbye, then the three turned on the spot and vanished with a loud crack.

Tony blinked, stared for a second at the place they'd just disappeared from, then turned and headed for the house. No time to ponder the mechanics of Apparating. The protection was cast – now they had planning to do. With Voldy in possession of both the Tesseract and an all-powerful wand, time was definitely of the essence.

* * *

Tony wandered into the living room, where everyone was holding an impromptu meeting. Harry had a few roughly-drawn maps spread out on the table – a few minutes of explaining told Tony that the long-fingered thing they'd rescued from the Manor was a goblin; a goblin from Gringotts, the very place they were trying to break into. Even better, the goblin knew the basic layout of the underground tunnels, and knew the exact location of the vault they wanted.

Despite their advantages, though, it soon became clear that Gringotts was nearly impenetrable. They had maps, yes, but no way to get to the tunnels the map showed. Harry and Hermione tossed around the idea of polyjuice potion, but they didn't have nearly enough to get everyone in.

"You're a sorcerer, Loki," Steve unexpectedly shot at the god in the middle of the conversation. "Why can't you magic up something and get us in?"

"I am indeed a sorcerer, Captain," Loki said, his tone condescending as usual. "However, this is a magical stronghold. I do not doubt they have spells in place to detect magical concealment. This Gringotts – it resembles many vaults upon Asgard. I would guess their protections to be similar. Any cloaking spell could very well fail as soon as we enter."

"Then what good are you?" Clint muttered.

Loki snapped back, and the meeting dissolved into individual arguments and conversations. Tony checked out entirely. He'd heard everything he'd needed to in the first few minutes – this was a seemingly impossible task. Even some very sneaky (and rather disturbing) suggestions from Natasha were shut down for one reason and another. And if Loki – a _god – _couldn't get them in, then how the hell would they stand a chance? There was always the option of letting Thor blunder in and create a distraction, but there was no way for him to create a distraction long enough to go miles and miles underground – assuming they could even get the key in the first place.

Subterfuge, concealment, distraction… nothing. What else was there, aside from just marching in and asking for the horcrux?

For a split second, Tony wanted nothing more than to pull out one of his old missiles and torch the place. That would get the job done. If there was one thing he'd learned, it was that a few explosives went a long way.

Wait…

It took two seconds for the entire plan to form in his head. There were a few variables to be ironed out, but he had it. He definitely had it.

"We can talk about this till the world ends if you want to, but I think we need to accept that we're not getting in by magical means," Tony said, cutting across all the babble.

Everyone turned to glare at Tony. "What else is there to do? We can't just give up," Hermione said crossly. Ron opened his mouth, looking ready to back her up.

"Wait. I know that look," Bruce said from the sofa. "What have you got, Tony?"

"C-4," Tony said simply.

Silence. Taking advantage of the fact they were all listening for once, Tony said, "We have an advantage here. Other than Liesmith over there," Tony said, gesturing at Loki, "None of us are versed in magic."

"And that's an advantage how?" Ron said.

Tony grinned. He'd been hoping for a response like that. "It's an advantage, Ginger, because you magic folk always underestimate electricity - anything normal- I mean Muggle."

"What are you suggesting?" Harry said slowly.

"I'm sure they'll expect Expellify or whatever it is that you do, but I doubt they'll expect Muggle technology – in this instance, namely bombs."

Silence reigned once more. Tony was getting pretty good at causing that reaction.

"You want to blow up Gringotts?" Hermione said, looking utterly shocked.

"Not Gringotts, specifically. Or at least not the fancy entrance part." He picked up one of the maps to illustrate, since they clearly weren't getting it, as usual. "These tunnels extend for miles in every direction, right? So go to the perimeter, far away from the main entrance and find a safe place to blow a few holes in the ground. That will give us access to the tunnels. We can set some as decoys, so it's not _too_ easy for those Death Eaters. They'll be expecting magic at every turn, but I doubt they'll be expecting TNT."

"I don't think anyone was expecting TNT," Bruce commented dryly.

"My point exactly, doctor," Tony said. He stood up.

"What, you're leaving? One half-assed plan and you're finished?" Clint growled from his perch on the sofa.

"If that's your definition of half-assed, I can't wait to hear what you come up with," Tony replied. Before Clint could retort, he said, "Sure, we can get in. That's great. But then one blast of green light would kill us all dead. I'm planning on fixing that before we go wandering into a wizarding stronghold."

He turned and left the room, heading for his workshop. Normally he would have stayed and helped them figure out the rest of the plan, but again, the game could be up any second. He'd feel a lot better with a magical shield between him and the crazed noseless man.

He'd given them enough to work with. They'd figure out the rest of the plan. It wasn't the biggest concern – Tony now just needed to figure out how to use magic himself.

He was going to make it work or die trying… literally. Voldy would see to that.

So that didn't leave much room for failure, then. Difficulty and impossibility aside, Tony Stark was going to make this work.

* * *

J.K. Rowling didn't give much grounds for the Fidelius charm, so I made it up xD I know the Fidelius charm was different in the first book, but I went for more of a Grimmauld Place type spell. :)

Thanks a million to all my readers, as always - can't say it enough! This story never would have made it without you all helping it along :)

Hope you enjoyed!


	21. Final Preparations

Wow. This wait was pitiful, even for me. So sorry. :(

Since this wait was just sad, I just want to assure you guys - even if I may take awhile, I won't leave this story until it's finished. :) I'm slow, yes, but I'm with this story till the end. So if there's some ridiculous gap, don't think I abandoned it. I haven't! Just blame the time constraints of real life... -.-

A million thanks to all still with this story! Enjoy!

* * *

_Miss Granger is on her way, sir._

"Good," Tony said, settling the metallic plate more firmly into the clamp. The runes imbedded within the metal glowed with a faint light. Satisfied, Tony retreated behind the clear barrier he'd set up and settled down to wait for the witch.

Hermione didn't take long. Soon she was standing in Tony's workshop, staring with wide eyes at the large plate with the circle of runes.

"Is that what I think it is?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"We're about to find out," Tony answered, ushering a bewildered Hermione behind the protective screen. "Put your wand hand through there," Tony said, indicating the small circle he'd drilled through the barrier. Still looking nonplussed, Hermione did so – and Tony saw it click when she realized the hole was directly in front of the runes.

Hermione needed no more provocation. Aiming directly for the heart of the circle, Hermione cried, "_Stupefy!" _A jet of red light arched from her wand, hit the engraved runes –

And bounced off. The magical red bolt rebounded, leaving the runes glowing and completely unscathed. The spell lanced through the crowded workshop and hit a pile of scrap metal, scattering them with a shower of sparks.

Tony stared at the untouched runes. There was no question they'd just rebounded the spell. He'd done it. He'd actually done it. He'd taken magic and introduced to electricity – and made it work. Now he could add "wizard" to his repertoire. Nice.

"You did it, Tony!" Hermione shouted, jumping in the air and completely surprising Tony with a vice-tight hug. "You did it!"

"No need to sound so surprised," Tony said, massaging his neck from where she'd grabbed him. "I _am _the resident genius here."

"Yes. Well…" Hermione said indistinctly, suddenly looking a lot less pleased. Not in the mood to deal with a sulky witch, Tony grudgingly added, "Resident _mechanical _genius."

Hermione looked considerably brighter after that. Tony was pretty proud of himself, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Sure, the runes rebounded a stunning spell. How about ten? Or what about one green laser? They needed to test it – which pretty much meant throwing a bunch of spells at it till it broke and going from there. It was sure to have a shot limit – Tony knew that whatever protection they were able to gather, it wouldn't be invincible. But if it even saved them once, it'd be helpful.

"We have to tell the others," Hermione said as she rose from her examination of the runes. "It'll be easier to test, anyway, with three of us instead of one. I'll be right back!" And she was out the door. This time, Tony could understand her rushing. He hated being ruled by the clock, but their timer was definitely ticking away. Every second that Voldy had the Tesseract was a second closer to the end of the world. And he had a brand-new all powerful wand to play with, too. Definitely a scary thought. So yeah, Tony couldn't blame her. Maybe they _should _start running everywhere.

Tony turned away from the empty doorway and looked back to the runes. Yes, he'd figured it out... but it actually hadn't been all that hard. All their thinking and overthinking had been to their detriment – when Tony took a step back from the mental puzzle, the answer showed itself to him pretty quickly. The runes were magical – everyone had agreed on that. But when any of the runes were etched on metal, scratched onto anything besides the shackles, they were dead. Empty. No glowing, no power.

No _power…_

Could it really be that simple?

Tony had been more than willing to give it a try. And so he'd laser-etched a circle of runes deeply into a scrap piece of metal. There was no glowing, no nothing… until he ran the current from an arc reactor through the metal. There had been an ominous sounding crackle (Tony had ducked) then a deep, resounding hum. The ancient runes flickered, then glowed with a faint, familiar light.

A battery. Those oh-so-special runes had just needed a power source.

Well, it certainly made things easier, though the knowledge didn't do much for Tony's pride. He half-hoped no one would ask for specifics on how he managed to make everything work out.

* * *

Before Hermione made it back into the workshop, Tony was greeted by a much less welcome visitor. While Tony was working on making a second test plate, he heard a crack and turned to find the god of lies standing there, not ten feet from him, staring with unreadable eyes at the glowing runes.

Since moving into the mansion, Loki had mostly done away with his over-the-top leather and metal getup – too damn heavy, Tony supposed. Instead, the god had adopted a simple green and black outfit; a plain tunic, plain pants and boots. Positively boring compared to his Asgardian armor, but probably easier to move around in. And, though they looked more fitting for a medieval faire than 21st century living, the clothes did suit him well.

Tony turned quickly away from the now-grinning god. "What do you want, Loki?" Tony asked tiredly, keeping his attention away from the god and focused on the runes below him.

"You already know the answer to that question, Man of Iron," Loki said, lofty and melodramatic as usual. "I am here to offer my assistance. We have a world to save, remember?" His tone took on a sarcastic edge, which Tony thought he understood. Tony wanted to save the world – just save it, no strings attached. Loki wanted to save the world, yes… but only because he wanted to rule it.

"Well, if you're here to 'help'… too late," Tony replied. "Already have the magic all figured out, no thanks to you. So I think we're all good here." Tony nodded pointedly towards the door.

"No thanks to me?" Loki said, amused. "Oh, quite the contrary. The magic you are wielding – if you could call it such…" Loki said, throwing the arc reactor runes a distasteful look, "Is merely borrowed, not of your own creation. Regardless, you would not have found yourself successful without my help."

Tony gave up on the runes and glared at the god.

"Yes, you've been so very helpful," Tony said sarcastically. Before Loki could retort, Tony continued, "You're supposed to be a sorcerer." His pent-up anger and frustration at the god started to leak into his voice. "A wizard. A magic user. Someone who _should _have been able to tell that all these runes needed was a power source. Instead, what have you done? Oh, yes – dropped a few vague hints here and there and laughed. So _very _helpful."

Loki's expression soured, but he didn't stomp off as Tony had hoped he would. "Without my shackles, you would still be tinkering uselessly with your electricity and metal, Stark. It is I who supplied the key."

Tony stared, disbelieving, at the god. Was he seriously going to try that angle? "Did getting hacked up mess with your memory? You didn't supply anything. I had them while you were knocked cold - then you came along and stole them. Does _that _sound more familiar, liesmith?" Tony growled. He remembered all too well the terms of getting the shackles back - and he was still none too happy with them.

"Such anger," Loki said mockingly, still completely at ease.

Tony had had enough. "Don't claim to be the innocent helper here. I haven't forgotten your little curse –," Tony said, nearly snarled – "and you can bet that you'll pay for that."

"So many powerful emotions," Loki said softly. "Not, I suppose, surprising. However…" He skewered Tony with his gaze, "I did not expect denial to be chief amongst them."

Tony ignored the god's cryptic taunts, didn't even try to decipher them. Instead, he grabbed a glass from the counter and downed it quickly. Nothing like liquor to take the edge off a situation. Shaking his head slightly at the sharp burn of the alcohol, he deftly unclamped the runic metal plate and gathered everything he needed together in his arms. He did not have the patience or time for a god who liked nothing more than f**king with people's minds. For whatever reason, the god tended not to hang around when there were other people around – Tony was going to take full advantage of that fact. "Have fun playing your mind games by yourself, liesmith," Tony said, turning to leave. He should have kept walking, should have left, but Tony just couldn't leave it be. He rounded back on the god, who was watching him solemnly. "Oh, and a word of advice." He would have preferred to say it without his arms full of electronic crap (and preferably filled with a gauntlet or something similar instead) but too late now. "If you care about staying on this earth – or staying alive, for that matter – a little suggestion." Tony got right up to the god, making his voice low and deadly serious. "_Never _jinx me again."

Loki hesitated, not looking nearly as intimidated as Tony would have liked. The god looked like he was about to say something – then apparently thought better of it and just grinned in his normal creepy-ass way. Without a word, he gave a little bow and headed to the door. Tony watched him go. He'd almost made it out the door when he heard Loki's chuckle. "I never did," Tony thought he heard the god say, then the door swung shut behind him.

What the hell was his problem?

"Just Loki being Loki," Tony told himself, not for the first time. If there was one thing the god liked to do, it was f**k with people's minds. He knew that.

So why did Tony keep letting him?

Again, not the right time to be thinking of it. Since Loki had left, Tony no longer had to – he set the equipment back up and waited for the wizards to return. Once the due awe at the runes had passed, the true work began.

* * *

The wizards and Tony worked quickly to find the shot limit of the prototype shield. The result was better than Tony expected – it took five well-placed hits for the runes to crack and lose their power. Not invincible, but definitely an improvement.

In the middle of their planning and testing, Bruce entered, had a quick word with Harry, then dragged Ron out behind him. Bruce, apparently, had corralled Steve and Thor and was planning to venture to this 'Diagon Alley' via jet to scope out potential places to blow access to the tunnels. But, as Harry conveniently told them, Diagon Alley was hidden from all Muggle's eyes – which , for all their gifts, included the Avengers. So Ginger was tagging along to describe the magical scenery that was hiding beneath them; and hopefully help them find a good spot to land and work without crushing some poor magical settlement.

Harry left soon after, to request more maps from Griphook. The resident goblin was carefully being kept in the dark about the whole explosive idea, but his maps were proving invaluable. The boy wizard soon returned, and the tests continued.

Tony was certain that given time – and an adequate amount of sleep – he would be able to strengthen the runes far past what they were now. But, again, the damn clock was ticking all too quickly. He substituted a slightly heavier alloy that raised the shot limit to seven, but then he had to pronounce himself done. In a few weeks he could very well have an invincible suit of armor, but Tony didn't particularly want to think of the state of the world if he locked himself in his workshop for that time. A seven-hit shield was going to have to do.

Tony set JARVIS to crafting the shield for his suit. Tony had figured out (by way of many short-circuits and backfiring arc-reactors) that the shield had to have its own energy source. If it fed from another arc reactor that was also powering his suit, the two essentially screwed each other up. For all his success, Tony still couldn't' make electricity and magic play nice together. When just functioning as a current, a battery for the runes, it worked fine, but the moment any outside force intruded in the battery, all hell broke loose. It was going to be tricky, keeping the two separated within the confines of one suit, but it was a much easier task than figuring out magic. This task, at least, he could pass over to JARVIS. This part was just stratagem and logistics, not logic-defying magical nonsense. And working out logistics was something that a machine could do – if your machine was built by Tony Stark.

Feeling at last like things were starting to go right, Tony pushed Loki solidly out of his mind. He had definite unfinished business with the god, but it would have to be tended to after the whole Gringotts was over with. Even the god seemed aware of the time crisis as everyone tried to put together a working plan to get into Gringotts without getting killed. There was enough on Tony's mind without having to deal with a psychotic sorcerer who liked to play mind games as well.

Of course, Tony was not the only one who needed to be protected. Still, Steve had his shield, Thor had his hammer, Bruce had… well, Bruce had his Hulk. Any sort of extra carry-around shield would probably be a burden, as opposed to helpful. Natasha and Clint, however, were sadly lacking in the magic protection department.

Both of them flatly refused shields, and Tony didn't blame them. It hardly worked with their fighting style. Still, he couldn't leave them completely unprotected. So, after a little tinkering, he revealed the new rune-covered bow for Clint, and four rune-filled daggers for Natasha. Clint immediately started shooting, to make sure the balance or whatever was still absolutely perfect. He didn't seem to care that he was shooting all of his arrows into a chair. "You're a billionaire. So buy a new one," Clint said with a shrug as he filled the chair leg with arrows.

Natasha's daggers were harder to work with– in the end, he hollowed out the pommel of the daggers, slotted a makeshift battery within and made do. Widow immediately said the balance was off, but her aim was impeccable as she slashed a rag training dummy to pieces. The balance couldn't be _too _bad then… and at least she'd had the good sense to use a dummy.

So, worst case scenario, if someone was shooting at them, they could raise their weapons and hopefully block the shot. Tony was also rather morbidly curious what would happen if a magic-repelling knife was stabbed into a magic user. Whatever the result, Tony had a feeling they were going to find out.

Two days later, the world hadn't ended and the Avengers had their plan. Harry and co. were going to go forward with their original plan – with a few small changes. First off, Tony worked some more magic and passed out magic-hardened earpieces, so finally contact wouldn't be a problem. Hermione would try to enter the vault disguised as the crazy witch Bellatrix, with Harry and the goblin hiding underneath their invisible sheet. If the ruse worked, great. The Avengers would get to stand around in a field for awhile while Hermione collected the Horcrux under the guise of Bellatrix and went on her way.

But Tony highly doubted they would be so lucky. When something inevitably went awry, the Avengers would set off the bombs and slip into the tunnels. They would meet up with Hermione, blast whatever they needed to out of their way, collect the stupid soul piece and get the hell out.

Somehow, Tony didn't think they'd be lucky enough for that work either, but it was the best they had. Loki assured the group that he had a few magical tricks up his sleeve, but naturally did not elaborate as to what those spells _were. _

Still, it didn't much matter. Loki hadn't outgrown his usefulness as a shield yet.

Tony sat down with a bottle of vodka and settled down to wait. Once JARVIS finished the upgrades to his suit, the Avengers would be off – off to break into a wizarding stronghold and a magical, goblin-filled bank.

After thinking of the daunting task looming before him, Tony grabbed another bottle from the cabinet. He had a sneaking suspicion he would need that and more before the night was out.

* * *

You could probably all tell, but still, have to say - Gringotts next chapter! Yay!

Hope you enjoyed!

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